Lorna Rochelle Ducheneaux

Lorna Rochelle “Shelly” Ducheneaux, Wicahpi Zi Win, entered the Spirit World at her home in Forest City at 10:11pm Sunday Novermber 8th 2015.  She passed peacefully surrounded by her loving family.  During her yearlong battle with cancer, she showed the strength and poise for which she was known.

Funeral services were held at 11:00 a.m., CST, Saturday, November 14, 2015 at Tiospaye Topa School Gym, LaPlant, with Les Ducheneaux presiding. A wake service was held at 7:00 p.m. CST, Friday November 13, 2015 at the school with an all-night wake to follow at the Ducheneaux Family Chapel. Burial took place in the Mossman Cemetery, Ridgeview.

Born the ninth of eleven children on September 28, 1945 to Frank and Ellen ”Babe” (Claymore) Ducheneaux in Old Agency, South Dakota.  She was raised on the Ducheneaux Ranch on Stove Creek and at the Old Agency.  A memorable event of her childhood was the annual Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Fair and Pageant in 1951. The pageant recreated the historical event of the signing of the Peace Treaty (between the United States and the Lakota Nation) of Fort Laramie. In the pageant she was dressed up in a boy’s costume and rode on the back of a travois attached to a horse which her mother led through the streets.

At the age of 5, Shelly was sent off to the Cheyenne River Boarding School.  She disliked boarding school and missed her mother terribly.  She disliked St. Joseph Indian Mission School even more where she spent two years.  The rest of her elementary schooling was at the Cheyenne River Public School.  Her high-schooling was at the Cheyenne-Eagle Butte School graduating in 1963.  As a senior, Shelly was elected class president.  The year following graduation, Shelly took a year off.   She did many things during this year, including going to Dallas and Fort Worth to visit her brother Greg.

In the fall of 1964, Shelly began her college career at the University of South Dakota.  During her sophomore year, she met her first husband, John G. Smith; they married on March 17, 1967.  To this union were born two children, her son Charles Brendan and her eldest daughter Kathleen Dale.  In 1969 the family first moved to New York City and then to Utica, New York.  After separating from John in 1971, she and the kids moved to Washington D.C. where she was employed by the National Congress of American Indians.  She then moved to Billings, MT. where she was employed by Tristate Tribes, Inc.  After working in Billings for a year, she moved back to Washington, D.C. where she was employed by the BIA Office for Youth Affairs.  She transferred to the Department of Justice Community Relations Service.  In that capacity, she worked as a Community Relations Specialist for the Department of Justice on the Pine Ridge Reservation during the 1973 Wounded Knee takeover.  She also worked for the Coalition of Indian Controlled School Boards in Washington. D.C. for one and a half years.  In 1976, Shelly was named Coordinator of Indian Affairs for South Dakota by Governor. Richard Kneip.

She met Frank Joseph Lawrence in the fall of 1978; the couple was married shortly thereafter.  To this union were born daughters, Catlin Joe and MacKenzie Ellen. The family spent time during the summers traveling the rodeo circuit.

Shelly returned to college at USD, graduating in 1987.  She then moved to Albuquerque NM to attend Law School at the University of New Mexico, receiving her Law Degree in 1990.  She began a private practice representing tribes and other tribal organizations in South Dakota and Minnesota.  She also served as the judge of the Mashantucket/Pequot tribe in Connecticut in 2001-2.  She served as Associate Judge for the CRST from March, 2011 until her death.

Shelly was raised to be a steward of justice. Her father was a longtime Chairman and Charter Member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Council, and her mother served as Chief Judge for the tribe. She was surrounded by people who modeled fairness and being in service.  She was well-respected by her coworkers, peers and even litigants, as the decisions and written opinions she rendered were well grounded in fact and law. Shelly never deviated from the law, as several nieces and nephews can attest. Shelly was instrumental in many landmark issues including the largest medical malpractice suit in South Dakota history involving inadequate physician services in a hospital operated by the U.S. Indian Health Service.  Shelly has built and shaped several tribal court systems, she is well respected in the Indian Law Community. Her recent efforts resulted in the creation of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Mobile Court, an innovative service making access to the courts available to people living in remote areas of the reservation.  The CRST Mobile Court is the only one of its kind.

As her legacy, Shelly wanted a trust established to help individuals in Indian Law. The Lorna Rochelle Ducheneaux Trust is a charitable trust whose mission is dedicated to the strengthening of tribal governments through the development and advocacy of tribal courts by providing scholarships, training and mentoring of people working in the tribal judicial system.

Despite her many career achievements, Shelly always considered her greatest accomplishment to be her family. She was a mother, grandmother, daughter, aunt and sister, before she was anything else.  She always had a houseful of her grandchildren whom she loved and supported.

Shelly is survived by her children, Charles Smith, Swift Bird, Kathleen (Burt) Dillabaugh, Forest City, Catlin (David) Woods, Swift Bird, and MacKenzie (Shawn Moran) Lawrence, Vermillion, special granddaughter, Wakinyela Ska Win “Keela” Lawrence, Forest City. Sisters Karen (Elmer) Nitzschke, and Candace Ducheneaux. Brothers Franklin (Ernie) Ducheneaux, Greg Ducheneaux, and Les (Debbie) Ducheneaux.  Granddaughters, Ashton (Tyrel) Telkamp, Arlene Rochelle Smith, Tasina Sapa Win Smith, Kathleen Anne Smith, McKenna Rose Dillabaugh, Pejihota Waniyetu Win “Sage” Good Shield, TaCannunpa Ota Win “T.C.” Lawrence, Dakota Smith and Shia DeLaine Peterson.  Grandsons, Mahto Najin Smith, Brendan Dillabaugh, Cruise MacLayne Peterson and David Paul Woods II.  Great-grandsons, Andrew James Soerries, Jaxson Arthur Soerries and Kinyan Luta Smith. Special later life companion Honey B-Dawg.   Special nieces: Tasina Ducheneaux, Colette Reule, and Quincee Ducheneaux.  Special nephews: Henry and Tate Ducheneaux and special great nephew, Dylan Nihiser.

Shelly was preceded in death by her mother, father, two infant sons, sister Joan, brothers Bud, John, Wayne and Claire, nieces Lisa Farlee, Allison Peterson, nephews Austin Anderson, Shawn Paul Smith, Matthew Ducheneaux, Hunka son Benton James “Hoki” Brown. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Lorna Rochelle Ducheneaux Trust c/o the State Bank of Eagle Butte or the charity of your choice.

Luce Funeral Chapel of Eagle Butte has been entrusted with Rochelle’s arrangements.