Ella Mae Amarilla is an respected elder of the Jicarilla Apache and a member of the Jicarilla Apache Culture Committee for over 10 years. She has lived on the reservation all her life and was employed by the Jicarilla Apache Arts and Crafts Museum until her retirement in 1989. Mrs. Amarilla has many grandchildren and great-grandchildren that visit her frequently, and she enjoys an occasional visit to the nearby casinos.
At 83, she still enjoys practicing the art of making Jicarilla baskets and doing beadwork.
