Chapter I: The Funeral

Introduction

the shore of the Missouri River. Her daughter Nona came with her children, and we gathered driftwood logs. We dragged them to the sweat lodge that her son Kevin made of canvas stretched over a bent willow frame. We lit a ³re and laid some good-sized rocks in the heart of the ·ames. After the rocks had baked for about an hour, we carried them into the sweatlodge, where their heat would help purify us. “Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ (we are all related)” Unchi said as we entered. Inside, it was completely dark. Time disappeared. We prayed and sang. Art Davidson

I

The Funeral

They came from every direction.* There were Native Americans, Latinos, Asians, Blacks, and Whites. Some people pooled their meager resources to drive over 1,000 miles and slept in their cars to save expenses. Others ·ew into Phoenix and stayed at comfortable hotels. There were the highly educated and illiterate; people of wealth and many who knew poverty well; some had penetrating insight and broad vision, there were others of limited capacity; some viewed life with a radiant spirit while others saw the world darkly; there were laborers (skilled and unskilled), doctors, artists, students, lawyers, hairdressers, artisans, carpenters, entrepreneurs, educators, masons, business executives, secretaries, judges, craftsmen, and the chronically unemployed. All came to pay homage to Patricia Ann McGillis Locke, known to many as Thˇawáčhiŋ Wašté Wíŋ (Compassionate Woman), who had touched the lives of everyone there in so many di²erent ways.

* To the traditional Lakota, directions are more than points on a map or compass. They speak of the four sacred directions, each associated with a sacred color as well as with songs. Each color has many symbolic meanings, including speci³c characteristics of the Great Spirit, as well as representing all the races and ethnic groups of humanity and everything that lives in those regions—the two-legged and four-legged, the winged ones, the ³nned ones, and the crawling ones, as well as the earth itself. Reference to the four directions suggests the interconnectedness and sacredness of all creation.

Compassionate Woman

A drum being played during her funeral.

It was her funeral, but the diversity of those who came was an eloquent testament of her life. The proceedings were broadcast live over KLND, the radio station of her home on the Standing Rock Reservation, which she helped found, and for which she had labored as a boardmember for so many years. People who could not attend, listened for three hours to the many relatives and friends who came forward to pay their respects and give tributes to Thˇawáčhiŋ Wašté Wíŋ.

Robert Henderson, a colleague of hers on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States,* summed up the thoughts of many when he said, “We must not let our sense of loss prevent us from celebrating a life that was so beautifully lived and realized. Pat Locke was a ·ower in full bloom at the peak of power and the fragrance of her life will linger in our hearts throughout our lives. Her spiritual qualities, her nobility of character will be an inspiration to all of us, every day of our lives.”1

Who was this Lakota woman of humble origin for whom obstacles were the ladder of life? Against all odds she got a college education. She was a leader and spokesperson on behalf of the down-

* See Chapter XIV for the function and importance of the National Spiritual Assembly within the Bahá’í administrative framework.

The Funeral

trodden of all ethnic groups. She was instrumental in establishing seventeen colleges on Indian Reservations, and helped empower tribes to establish their own school curricula. She fought for Native language preservation, the environment, the rights of women, Native rights, self-determination, and heritage preservation. As an adult she left the advantages of urban living and moved to the Standing Rock Reservation—the open prairies of her roots—even though her arduous travel schedule was made more di¹cult by this relocation to the rural prairies of South Dakota. During her lifetime, she and Sitting Bull were listed by a South Dakota Department of Tourism brochure as the two most outstanding Sioux Indians.2 The list of her many accomplishments is long and varied. She was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship (also known as the MacArthur Genius Award), served as the ³rst American Indian elected as a senior o¹cer of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, was elected chair of the Indigenous Women’s Conference in Beijing, and was posthumously inducted to the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She accomplished so much while being a devoted mother and grandmother. In addition, she was well-known for taking in stray dogs and feeding anyone who showed up at her door.