In 2004, one of the tribal liaisons to the SD Department of Corrections died.  I attended the funeral on the reservation along with my supervisor.  The daughter of the deceased man left a message on my answering machine that the funeral was to begin at 2.  We both arrived at the tribal community center wearing our best church dresses at 12:30.

We noticed right away we were overdressed.  Most people were wearing Western shirts or T-shirts and jeans or slacks.  The widow wore black slacks and a T-shirt.  The only person wearing a suit was the funeral director.

We also notice there were many people present, probably 250 +, including some teenage girls with babies, but very few young men.  Since we were riding in a Dept. of Corrections vehicle with that noted on the license plate, we thought perhaps a few young men who had absconded might have seen the license plate and decided not to attend.  All of us were seated on folding chairs and little kids were running around all over.  People went to the concession stand at the back of the room to get soft drinks and popcorn.

The casket was at the front of the room partially covered by a gorgeous star quilt. On either side of the casket were many tables with beautiful decorated cakes on them.  Some had military emblems on them.  Some cakes had his picture on them.  There were also family photos displayed.  Hanging on the walls behind the tables and the casket were star quilts.  We brought a wreath shaped like a medicine wheel made by a florist as a gift from the inmates and added that to one of the tables.  The deceased was wearing Western clothing with his favorite cowboy hat, sage, sweet grass and cigarettes in the casket.

A Western band played music intermittently.  A few people sang.

At 1:30, various tribal dignitaries, friends and family members of the deceased took turns talking about him.  That lasted about an hour.  When I looked at the funeral program, it said the funeral was to start at 1 PM, not 2 PM.

Following the speeches, everyone in the room formed a line and shook hands with the pall bearers and family members before returning to their seats.  This took about an hour.

An Episcopalian Mass began and lasted about another hour.  After it was over, the pall bearers put the casket in the bed of a 4-wheel drive pickup truck and they sat in back with the casket.  The burial was to be held about 7 miles out of town in a family cemetery reached by a rutted gravel road so we decided to leave for home since it was already 4:30 and we had a long drive ahead of us.  I’m sure the mourners returned from the cemetery for a meal in the community center.

We also learned that wake services are held for 2 or 3 days ahead of funerals on the reservation.  Someone from the family remains with the casket all night.

His death was a loss to the inmates and the Dept. of Corrections since he was very helpful to both.  It was also evident he was well loved in his community.

Mary Montoya