As with so many of his models, Jay found Eddie Holloway Sr. at the Indian Village (now the Elbow River Camp). Eddie was from the Stoney Nakoda Nation, was proud of his involvement with The Calgary Stampede and had been a tipi owner since 1969. He served as a director of the Buffalo Nation Museum in Banff. He was a member of the National Indian Brotherhood, an organization created to lobby for chanes to federal and provincial government policies to support Indigenous rights and sovereignty. He served ten years as a councillor in leadership to his Nation.

In his younger days, Blue Mountain had been a champion calf roper and an all-around cowboy. He embraced and honoured the cultural values and traditions of his people. Eddie especially enjoyed participating in round dances and was a self-taught musician. During their seventy years of marriage, Eddie and Ena (Elsie) had nine children, and the family continues as owners of the tipi at the Stampede’s Elbow River Camp.

“This man was very quiet. Like me, he had been a calf roper, a man who knew horses. He spoke quietly to the men helping me with the clay, but we did not have an involved conversation.“