Don "Duck" Andress of Mackinac Island with one of his walking sticks. His artwork is being reviewed by the Smithsonian Institution to be included in its American Indian History and Culture program. In his 73 years, Don Andress has been known locally for many things on Mackinac Island. One thing, creating walking sticks, may make him nationally known.

"Duck," as he is known to the Island community, is a Korean War-era veteran, a retired carpenter, and a former boxer. Dressed in his finest Indian outfit and riding his horse, Babe, he leads Mackinac Island's annual Lilac Parade, a tradition, he said, since the parade's founder, Stella King, first asked him to do it 36 years ago.

He will now be known for his walking stick artwork on a national scale at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian. One of his walking sticks was accepted by the museum's board of review Thursday, October 10, as a representation for Chippewa Indians of the Midwest region. It was submitted for consideration by the museum by Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau's Chris West.

Surrounded by his latest batch of walking sticks, Don Andress holds a balsam fir-filled pillow he made 10 years ago. The aroma from the fir inside the pillow is still present, said Mr. Andress. A biography of Mr. Andress will likely accompany the display, said Mr. West, who has not yet learned whether the display will be in the museum's rotating display area or its permanent display.

Mr. Andress is said to be a descendant of Chief Mackinac (also known as Chief Mikenoc in the 1700s), who was the son of Chief Big Head, a chief of Northern People Nations, which stretched from Detroit to Montreal. His great-uncle, a well known figure on the Island, was William H. Andress, known as Chief Eagle Eye.

Both sides of his family are rich in Native American history and culture.

Mr. Andress is the son of Joseph Andress, a prize fighter and handyman, and Ruby Perault Andress, a bartender at Horn's Bar and laundress for Moral Re-Armament. Both of his parents were of Indian descent.

Mr. Andress is the grandson of Thomas Andress, a carpenter at Mackinac Island State Park in the 1930s, and James "Big Jimmy" Perault Sr., a journeyman carpenter and handyman from the Island.

It was "Big Jimmy" who taught Mr. Andress the art of making walking sticks.

Just as he did with his grandfather when he was only six, Mr. Andress can often be found sitting outside his home carving away at sticks, pausing every so often to feed shelled peanuts to birds.

Making walking sticks, Mr. Andress said, is a long family tradition that can be traced to the 1600s, with Chief Big Head. It is a powerful connection to not only his heritage, but his family. Just as his grandfather bestowed upon him the family tradition, Mr. Andress, in turn, is passing it down to his son, Jamie.

"He was kind of a quiet guy but he always told me that I need to keep up my heritage," said Mr. Andress of his grandfather, who he said is one of the strongest influences in his life.

His grandfather became more of a father figure after Mr. Andress' father was killed by a train in Muskegon when Mr. Andress was only 12. He lived with his grandfather after that, allowing him to learn more about family traditions and the importance of his ancestry.

Mr. Andress remembers often walking through the woods of Mackinac with his grandfather. The two would carefully select young balsam trees, so as to not pick any with too many knots.

"I'd sit there with my grandfather for hours just making walking sticks with him," said Mr. Andress.

Mr. Andress is a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and attends as many tribal meetings and powwows as possible.

The pride he has for his heritage can be seen from the road at his home in Harrisonville, with a teepee, an American flag with a Native American symbol on it, and three colorful wooden stakes decorated with animal bone and fur.

He takes just as much pride in his walking sticks and the miniature, aromatic balsam fir pillows that he makes for friends.

"I hardly waste any of the tree," he said.

He uses strips of leather, colorful plastic beads, painted straight pins, and ornamental figures of animals on top of some of his walking sticks, or he will carve an object out of redwood, which he said he uses because "it's less grainy."

While his grandfather preferred to leave the bark on the walking stick, Mr. Andress would rather strip them, exposing the wood underneath, giving the piece a more polished look.

After stripping the bark, Mr. Andress bends the branches downward, weaving them around the stick. He then ties the branches in place with string and hangs them to dry for six weeks. He'll also carve his name into the sticks.

The sap underneath the bark acts as an adhesive when the branches are pressed against the stick. After six weeks, the strings are removed.

He then puts on a coat of tongue oil to retain the stick's sheen and protect the wood.

The popularity of his walking sticks has recently seen a sudden surge. When they were displayed at Ste. Anne's Catholic Church September 20, at the Tourism Bureau's Falling Moon Leaves Festival, he sold 24 of them.

One of his sticks, decorated with an miniature eagle head and feathers, was sold for $600 at the Medical Center benefit auction at Grand Hotel earlier this year.

Mr. Andress has four brothers, Francis "Pat," Joe, Leslie "Butch," and Carl, and two sisters, Barb and Mary, all of whom now live on the mainland.

Mr. Andress attended Thomas Ferry School at the Indian Dormitory, which he said his great-great-grandfather, William H. Andress, helped build in 1838.

Mr. Andress attended an all boys school called Boysville in Macomb County after his eighth grade year on the Island. It was there he picked up boxing and earned the nickname "Duck," as he was good at ducking punches.

He earned his high school degree in the U.S. Army, serving from 1958 to 1960 in the 23rd Combat Engineers, which, he pointed out, was the same outfit Elvis Presley served in. He was stationed in Germany and Czechoslovakia during the Korean War.

After his military service, Mr. Andress returned to the Island and was a carpenter for Grand Hotel for 16 seasons.

The idea of submitting Mr. Andress' walking stick to the Smithsonian came up when Mr. West visited his brother and his wife, who live in Washington, D.C.

Mr. West gave them one of Mr. Andress' walking sticks as a gift. They suggested he submit Mr. Andress' information and walking sticks to the Smithsonian to represent tribes from Michigan or northern Wisconsin.