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MEMORIAL WALK

RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA

2022 Remembering the Children Memorial Walk

 

DATE: Monday October 10, 2022 - Native Americans' Day

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Our team made a commitment to the children to never forget them and has been the primary driver of the project for the last decade. In honor of that commitment every year our team holds a Memorial Walk on Native American Day that starts at Sioux Park in Rapid City and ends at the Remembering the Children Memorial site, by Canyon Lake United Methodist Church. 

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We invite the Rapid City community, tribal communities, boarding school survivors, and the families and descendants of the children to come together to honor and remember them on that day. This year we will host an official ground blessing at the memorial site as we prepare for construction to begin on the site this fall.

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10:00am

Welcome Remarks (Sioux Park, Flower Gardens) 
 

10:30am

Walk from Sioux Park to Sioux San (1 mile)

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11:30am

Remember the Children Memorial Site - Prayer, Meal, Opening Statements, Ground Blessing, Closing

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**PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN CHAIRS**

 

**Names of the Children Who Passed Away (Updated 9/2022)**

(Children who the research team has been able to identify thus far who passed away while in attendance at the Rapid City Indian Boarding School. Causes of death range from disease, to side affects of malnutrition, to freezing to death while attempting to escape.)

Bessie Bare Arm Necklace (Cheyenne River Sioux)
Luke Shell Necklace (Cheyenne River Sioux)
Mabel Holy (Cheyenne River Sioux)
Rose Little Shield (Cheyenne River Sioux)
Tommy Afraid of Thunder (Cheyenne River Sioux)
Alonzo Little Chief (Cheyenne)
Martin Hart (Cheyenne)
Charles Crow Dog (Crow Creek)
Evelyn Day (Crow Creek)
Sophia Fleury (Crow Creek)
John Telcostair (Flathead)
Male child 1926 (Flathead)
Alfred Old Dog (Gros Ventres)
Charles Long Turkey (Lower Brule)
Melissa Rencountre (Lower Brule)
Adolph Bissonnette (Pine Ridge)
Adolph Russell (Pine Ridge)
Dorothy Crier (Pine Ridge)
Ida Logan (Pine Ridge)
James Means (Pine Ridge)
Louis Long Horn (Pine Ridge)

Mark Sherman (Pine Ridge)
Mary Galligo (Pine Ridge)
Spencer Ruff (Pine Ridge)
Infant Naomi Goings (likely Pine Ridge)
Hubert “Phillip” Moore (Rosebud)
Joseph Face Darkling (Rosebud)
Nicholas Eagle Horn (Rosebud)
Susan “Lottie” Blue Horse (likely Rosebud)
Isadore Eagle Feather (Sioux)
Raymond Barker (Sioux)
Abner Kirk (Sisseton)
Jennie Pretends Eagle (Standing Rock)
Josephine Spotted Bear (Standing Rock)
Robert Cedar Boy (Standing Rock)
Mary Charboneau (Turtle Mountain Chippewa)
Martin Williamson (Yankton)
[Illegible] (Sioux)
Infant Foreman (unknown)
Female Child 1919-#1(unknown)
Female Child 1919-#2 (unknown)
Child 1925 (unknown)
Female child 1926 (Sioux) 

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WEATHER: 

  • The event will occur regardless of weather. A decision was made the first year of the Memorial Walk that the children endured great hardship, many passing away in the winter while trying to escape, and if we must also on the day of their honoring, it will be so.

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COVID PRECAUTIONS:

  • Masks encouraged

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TO BRING:

  • A folding chair to sit (drop it off at the Church lot before the walk) (extra chairs for elders)

  • Warm coats and blankets if the weather is cold (extra blankets for elders)

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EXECUTIVE PROCLAMATION

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR

RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA

WHEREAS, On this Native American Day we gather together to honor all of the children who attended and who passed away at the Rapid City Indian Boarding School; and

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WHEREAS, The existence of the Indian Boarding School in Rapid City is a difficult piece of history to address, especially considering the children were the ones who ultimately suffered from its existence; and

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WHEREAS, Although difficult, it is our responsibility, and obligation in memory of these children, to continue addressing the controversial decisions made in our community’s past, which continue to trouble our present; and

WHEREAS, While we are unable to change the past, we are able to face the difficult truths head-on through honest dialogue and collaboration in an effort to forge a better tomorrow for all children in this community.

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NOW, THEREFORE, I, Steve Allender, Mayor of Rapid City, do hereby proclaim Monday, October 8, 2018, as The Day of the Grandmothers Unci Tha-anpetu 

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In Rapid City in honor of the grandmothers who have carried this piece of history and honored the memory of the children lost for generations.

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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I, Steve Allender, Mayor of the City of Rapid City, South Dakota, do hereby affix my official signature and the Official Seal of the City of Rapid City, South Dakota, on this 8th day of October, 2018.

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Steve Allender, Mayor
Rapid City, South Dakota

Executive Proclamation
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