Candace Ducheneaux

Candace Ducheneaux, 75, our mother, left us before the dawn on Wednesday morning, December 14, 2024, from her homelands on Cheyenne River to be with her ancestors.  She spent her last days at home surrounded by those she loved and died after a short illness that she couldn't overcome. 

Our family will be gathering at the Ducheneaux Chapel on Sunday, December 15, 2024, at 11:00 a.m., Central Time. Our Mom will be there for you to pay your respects and offer sympathy to the family. Burial will be in the Ducheneaux Cemetery.

A lot of people knew and loved Mom, and we know they would like to be here. Please don’t travel if the roads aren’t good where you’re coming from. We’re not taking attendance and will not be offended if you can’t make it.

Candace Idita Ducheneaux was the daughter of Frank Douglas Ducheneaux I and Ellen ‘Babe’ Winnifred Claymore and granddaughter of Henry James Ducheneaux, Josephine Catherine ‘Nellie’ DuBray, John Bazil Claymore and Catherine Carter. Candace was born on December 14, 1948, at the Old Cheyenne Agency. She was the youngest child of Frank and Babe. She lived her younger years at the Old Agency, leaving when it was flooded at the age of ten. 

She went to school for a lot of years in Eagle Butte, but then moved to Dallas, Texas with her mother and graduated school there. She returned to Eagle Butte a few years later and met and married Terry Dillabaugh; they had four children, Kyanne, Karen, Burt and Josh. 

After their divorce, she moved around a bit for work and went to college in Albuquerque, NM. She moved back to Cheyenne River in 1978, eventually moving to Swift Bird. She left Swift Bird to move to Yellow Thunder Camp in the Black Hills in the early 80’s. There she met Nathan Black Elk and had her son, Luke. She once again returned to the reservation and lived in Armstrong County, Green Grass, Marksville and back to Swift Bird, where she maintained a home until her death. 

She left to travel the wanagi canku before dawn on the morning of December 11, 2024. She spent her last days on earth surrounded by loved ones and was ready to join her ancestors. As with everything else in her life, she left it on her own terms.

Candace follows to the stars all of her grandparents; her father Frank; her mother Babe; her hunka mother Dorothy (Buffalo) Strikes Enemy; sisters: Luella Nickeson, Joan LeBeau, Karen Nitzschke, and Rochelle Ducheneaux; hunka sisters: Fern Hawk Eagle and Bernice Strikes Enemy; brothers: James Petruske and Vincent, Bud, John, Wayne, Claire, and Greg Ducheneaux; and special Aunties Syble Claymore and Stella Buffalo.

Left behind to mourn forever are her last remaining siblings, her beloved brothers: Franklin and Les Ducheneaux; children: Kyanne Dillabaugh, Karen Ducheneaux, Burt Dillabaugh, Josh Dillabaugh, and Luke Black Elk; grandchildren: Serena Roy Nunez, Cody Livermont, Rhyley Ducheneaux, McKenna Dillabaugh, WagaCan Ducheneaux, Brendan Dillabaugh, Makaheya Yracheta, Lacey DuPris, Kellen DuPris, Tatiye Topa Oiyahpeya Ducheneaux, Osina Dillabaugh, Wacinyeya Iwas’aka Yracheta, Josh Riley Dillabaugh II, Wawikiya Cik’ala Black Elk, Ashton Smith, James Allen, and Pizi Oyate; great-grandchildren: Mahpiya Waste Win, Wicahpi Etan U Win, Ky, Zayden, Noah, Orion, Andrew, Jaxson, Jameson and Adelyn.

Candace also leaves behind so many relatives including her beloved older cousin Carol Emery and her long-time sister/friend Charlotte Black Elk, the two people she spoke with the most after her brother Greg died this year, all of her hunka tiospaye, sister/friends, sundance relatives, movement relatives, nieces, nephews, grand and great grandchildren, and people she has inspired and touched. We dare not try to name any as the list would be unending and we fear leaving so many out. Just know that she talked about and remembered fondly people she had encountered so many years or even decades ago, and the family has been comforted by the messages received from those she has impacted over the many decades of a full life.

Luce Funeral Home of Gettysburg has been entrusted with Candance’s arrangements.