Katie Burden shares royalty experience
By Lani Hansen, Reporter
OKMULGEE, Oklahoma– Mvskoke Media continues the series of “Former MCN Princesses: Where are they now?” with series ten featuring Katie Burden-Greer. Greer served as Muscogee (Creek) Nation Princess in 2005-2006.
“The year I was crowned, it was my second or third time running and I enjoyed brushing up on the history,” Greer said. “They asked us a lot of questions that time about tribal history, language and I sang a Creek hymn for my talent. I was not expecting to win, but I was hoping to be able to represent the tribe.”
Greer was able to travel and speak at many events like what the princesses do today. She said the pageant was not much different than what it is today. The last time she went to one was a few years ago and seems like there is more support and a bigger budget to have the pageant.
During her reign, Greer was also in her junior year at East Central University (ECU) in Ada. She was studying pre-med majoring in biology. Since she was the ambassador for the Nation she was doing a lot of traveling outside of school.
“I went to Denver March and Gathering of Nations,” Greer said. “My very first time on a plane was when I was princess, when I flew out to Denver March.”
As the princesses share their platform today, Greer did the same during her time as princess. She went out and shared about Creek heritage and awareness. Many of her events were in-state speaking at festivals, summer youth camps and at ECU.
A big part of serving as the ambassador for Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Greer promoted awareness of the culture. Some people do not know anything about the language or traditional stories so Greer shared these with other people while serving as princess.
Greer is now married going on 13 years, living on a ranch with cattle, horses and three fur babies. She is a physician working as the hospitalist, only seeing patients when they are admitted into the hospital.
“I initially worked for Creek Nation for two and a half years when I finished my residency training,” Greer said. “That was in Jacksonville, Florida, then I came back and worked in Okemah for about two and a half years. I now work for Chickasaw Nation in Ada.”
Greer has been with Chickasaw Nation for three and a half years. She is now the Chief of Inpatient Medicine at the Chickasaw Nation.
Stay tuned for the August 1 issue as we find out where the next former Miss Muscogee (Creek) Nation is now.
