Dorothy Marie Courchene Smith
Dorothy Marie Courchene Smith Dorothy Marie Courchene Smith, 80, of Amarillo died Monday, Feb. 17, 2003. Rosary will be at 7 p.m. today in Schooler Funeral Home Brentwood Chapel, 4100 S. Georgia St., with Monsignor Francis Smyer officiating. Mass will be at 10 a.m. Friday in St. Mary's Catholic Church with Monsignor Harold Waldo officiating. Burial will be in Memory Gardens Cemetery. Mrs. Smith was born Jan. 30, 1923, in Wolf Point, Mont., at the house of her parents, Philip and Sarah Courchene. Wolf Point is on the Fort Peek Indian Reservation for the Assiniboine Sioux Tribes of which she was a member. She then attended Haskill Indian School in Haskill, Mont. Native Americans could not attend public schools at that time, but the practice was changed by the time she went to Wolf Point High School. She was elected the school's first "Indian Girl" cheerleader during her senior year. She married Joe Day of Wolf Point and they had one son, Stuart Day. After graduating high school, she was recruited by the War Department due to speaking four languages and her secretarial skills. During World War II, she worked as a secretary in Washington, D.C., and also worked at Walter Reed Army Hospital. While in Washington, she met and later married John David Smith who was in the Army. John David went to work for Southwestern Bell and after the war, they moved to St. Louis, where Arlene Marie was born, and then to Wolf Point, where Charles David was born; then back to St. Louis, where Daniel James was born. J.D. transferred to Amarillo with Southwestern Bell where Dorothy attended Amarillo College and was an active member of St. Laurence and St. Mary's Catholic churches. Rebecca Ann, John Ralph and Diane Ruth were born in Amarillo. Dorothy was an advocate and supporter of getting the name of Custer's Battlefield changed. Through hers and others efforts, the name was changed to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument and the role of Native Americans was finally recognized. She was also a grass roots member and supporter of the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. She will always be loved by her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as her many friends. It will be impossible to fill the void that her passing leaves us until we are all together again. She was preceded in death by a daughter, Arlene Green of Amarillo. Survivors include her children, Stuart Day of Queen Creek, Ariz., Charles D. Smith of Scottsdale, Ariz., Daniel Smith, Rebecca Yarbrough and Diane Hernandez, all of Amarillo, and J.R. Smith of Palm Springs, Calif.; 14 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandchildren. The family suggests memorials be to Crazy Horse Memorial, Avenue of the Chiefs, Crazy Horse, SD 57730-9506. Amarillo Globe-News, Feb. 20, 2003
Dorothy married Living
Dorothy next married Living |
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