The first language Virginia Bolen heard was English, but the first language she learned to speak was Chickasaw. She regularly spoke her native language until she was 4 years old. However, when she began going to school, she was taught to only speak English. Despite the struggles of speaking Chickasaw at a time in history when doing so was often met with drastic punishment, today Virginia is a proud Chickasaw speaker.

As part of the Decade of Chickasaw Language initiative, fluent elders are having their stories recorded and transcribed by linguists dedicated to language revitalization. "After I'm gone ... they'll have these tapes that [were] made by the elders while they were still living. And that's going to be helpful to them, those that want to learn," Virginia says.