‘Rena Bell Duncan served as a Chickasaw Nation legislator for the Panola District for 15 years. Born in Spokane, Washington, she is the daughter of Chickasaw Hall of Fame member Sally Grinslade Bell and Lt. Col. Ben Bell. Her grandfather, Albert Milton Grinslade Jr., was an original enrollee. She moved to Oklahoma at the age of 16, after living in many states as the child of a military parent. From a young age, her mother taught her of their family and how they impacted Chickasaw history. She began accompanying her mother to meetings of the Chickasaw/Choctaw alliance in the early 1980s.

Duncan was first elected to the Chickasaw Nation Tribal Legislature in 1983. She chaired several committees and was instrumental in the formation of the cultural and historic preservation committee. She was also the first woman legislative secretary and chaired the reapportionment, legislative rules and procedures, education, election procedures, health and economic development committees. She served as co-chair of the cultural preservation committee for the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes. Duncan was also appointed by Governor Bill Anoatubby as the Chickasaw alternate tribal representative to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI). She was chosen to serve as NCAI Muscogee Area Vice President by all of the tribes. She was honored alongside five other Chickasaw Nation legislators at a women’s tribal leaders reception sponsored by the Women of the Oklahoma Senate in 1992.

She served as Chickasaw Nation Director of Cultural Resources and as historic preservation officer. She was instrumental in identifying a site for the repatriation of ancestral artifacts and remains on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Duncan continues to advocate for the protection of sacred and significant tribal sites in Oklahoma and the Chickasaw Homeland.

Duncan married Stephen Ray Duncan on Aug. 27, 1966, in Achille, Oklahoma. They have three sons, Stephen B., Robert E. and John L., 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.