John is the former Department Chair of Blackfeet Studies at the Blackfeet Community College, a position he held for ten (10) years. He was involved in wild land firefighting as a Type I, Inter-Agency, Hot Shot Superintendent, and later as a Operations Section Chief on the National Overhead Teams. A former member of the Blackfeet Tribal Council, he currently works as the Blackfeet Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) for the Blackfeet Tribe. While at THPO, he was awarded the Governor’s Humanities Award in 2017, and inducted into the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame in 2023. John has been the head of the Pikanni Traditionalist Association and has led opposition to oil & gas exploration in the Badger Two Medicine for the last 19 years. John is a traditional elder for several of the spiritual orders of the Blackfeet, and currently holds a Thunder Medicine Pipe Bundle, along with his wife and family. He holds a graduate degree from Montana State University with an undergraduate degree in Philosophy. He also holds a Blackfeet Bilingual Education Degree from Blackfeet Community College. John and Carol Murray will celebrate fifty tears of marriage on September 1, 2023. John and Carol operate a small cow/calf operation with their grandchildren in the Two Medicine Valley where he makes his home.