July 1977: Katherine Spotted Bird’s Funeral

May her memory be a blessing

7-7-77 Gordon and Edith’s

Just after I got to Edith’s, Bobby walked into the house. There was a piece of paper on the kitchen table that listed the pall bearers and honorary pall bearers for Katherine Spotted Bird’s funeral. Pall bearers were Gordon, Ray, Bobby, Mike TD and honorary were Quentin, Henry Fox, Jim Snow and Freddie. Bobby told Edith to give the paper to Gordon. I asked Bobby if she was a relative and he said that she was related to both of us – he pointed to Edith. Bobby left.

Edith said that she was only 40 years old. Edith said that they were going to do an autopsy in Havre to find out what she died from. “Havre is the only place where they do autopsies. I don’t know when the wake is going to be, but it will probably be Friday night and the funeral either on Saturday or Monday morning. It can’t be on Sunday. I was close to her, but I was closer to her sister, Elaine. They’re my cousins. We went to Havre and we stopped in to see them, but no one was home. So, we went to the park, and they were all at the park, she and her father and two sisters.” Mary said that they were so close to all of them. “Our father and her mother were either siblings or first cousins.” Mary said that she was like a sister to us.

7-7-77 mission

Brad (Father Reynolds) said that he spent the afternoon with Katherine Spotted Bird’s family.

She died early yesterday morning. She was having seizures at home on Monday, and they took her to the hospital. They gave her some medicine and she was feeling better, so they sent her home. She was taking medicine for the seizures. Her sister found her yesterday, but she was dead by the time they got her to the hospital. The rosary and wake will be Friday night at 7:30 and the funeral will be on Saturday at 10:00. Elaine asked if she could be buried next to her mother in the mission cemetery and I told her that was fine with me.

7-7-77 trailer

Brad asked Susie to play the organ at the funeral on Saturday for Katherine Spotted Bird. Mike, Sandy, Gordon and Edith came up to hear me play and we all decided to sing along. Edith said that she would also get Lou Kirkaldie and Gootch to sing too and maybe Caroline and Bobby. Mike said he would ask Janice Shambo. We decided on two songs, “All That I Am” and “A Time for US.” We’re having a practice at 8:30 tomorrow night.

7-8-77 mission

At 9:00 on KOJM from Havre the announcer after the news said that the requiem mass would be said for Katherine Spotted Bird at 10:00 at St. Paul’s Mission in Hays.

7-8-77 mission

The wake for Katherine Spotted Bird is taking place all night tonight. The backhoe came up to the mission this afternoon and dug the grave at the mission cemetery. The grave was not able to be put in next to her mother the way her sister and father wanted. There wasn’t enough room for the backhoe to get into the spot next to her mother, so the grave was dug at the front of the cemetery.

At 6:30, Katherine’s father and a couple of other relatives walked up to the cemetery to look at her grave site. Cars drove up to the grave site all evening. The rosary was supposed to be said at 7:30 but they were waiting for a relative to come and the rosary wasn’t said by Father Brad until 9:30. The wake is being held in the new mission gym. The coffin was brought down from the funeral home at 4:00 this afternoon.

Brad asked Susie to play the organ at the funeral, at 10:00 Saturday morning. Gordon, Edith, Caroline, Bobby, Mike and I are going to sing in the choir that was spontaneously organized last night. Brad will lead a procession from the gym to the church while Mike is ringing the church bells. Then the choir will sing “All That I Am” while the people enter the church and the pall bearers bring the coffin into the church. Brad also asked us to sing some responses during the mass. At the end of the mass, we are singing “A Time For Us” from Romeo and Juliet. We had to practice at 10:00 with the choir for almost two hours. We will practice again at 9:00 in the morning. Gordon and Bobby sang with us but then they realized that since they are pall bearers, they’ll be sitting in the front pews downstairs during the mass and won’t be able to sing with us. While we were singing it was obvious that Caroline and Edith were really enjoying themselves. Caroline said that Susie should play the organ every Sunday and we could sing every week. Edith agreed it would be a great idea. At 11:45 we stopped and Caroline and Bobby went to the wake. It was crowded all night.

7-9-77 mission

Katherine Spotted Bird’s funeral was held today at 10:00. At 9:15, Caroline, Edith, Mike, Susie and I went up to the balcony of the church to practice our songs for the choir. We practiced for about 15 minutes, and Mike left to get a cup of coffee before the funeral.

At 10:00 the family walked up to the church steps. Katherine’s father, sisters and brother. Then five minutes later, Brad, Freddie and another man brought all the flowers over from the gym to the church. They were followed by the pall bearers who began a procession from the gym to the church. They were followed by friends and relatives. As the coffin left the gym, Mike started ringing the church bells and continued until the coffin was at the back hallway to the church. The family walked into the church and sat in the front pews of the church on the right (facing the altar). This is where the family always sits during a funeral.

Then Brad started the service. He stood at a table behind the pews, and the pall bearers carried the coffin to in front of him. All the friends and family stood behind the coffin, most of them outside of the church door. The pall bearers placed the coffin down on a table with rollers and one of them covered the coffin with a blanket. Brad blessed the coffin with holy water, and then led a procession into the church as the choir sang, “All That I Am.” The pall bearers rolled the coffin into the center aisle and then the pall bearers and honorary pall bearers sat in the front pews on the left facing the altar. This is where the pall bearers always sit during a funeral. Then all the friends and relatives came into the church and filled up the last rows of pews.

Brad blessed the whole congregation with holy water. As the water hit the people, they crossed themselves. He said that this was to symbolize their baptism. He said a regular requiem mass. He sang the eucharist and the choir sang responses and amens. Then he gave a homily. He centered his talk on comforting the family. He gave a few examples of the technology of communication (i.e., satellites) and then explained that there are no words that can be said to a family to lessen the grief. But he talked about the afterlife, Jesus’s promise of afterlife and the resurrection. He gave examples and used an analogy of the sun rising every day and rebirth of life. He also quoted from scripture.

After communion he blessed the coffin using incense. Sister Bart helped him serve by getting the incense ready. Then when the mass was over, the pall bearers carried the coffin out to the hearse in front of the church steps and the congregation left the church. First the family and then all the rows going from front to back. The choir sang, “A Time For US” while they were leaving. There were about 75 people at the church.

People started walking and driving up to the cemetery. Brad walked in front of the hearse to the cemetery. The rest of the people walked and drove behind the hearse. At the cemetery people stood around the grave site. Brad said a few prayers and then the family and most of the people started walking back to the gym. As they were walking back, the backhoe went up to the cemetery. It was parked behind the rectory. Some of the people and the pall bearers stayed at the cemetery. The pall bearers shoveled in some dirt and the backhoe filled the grave.

Everyone went back to the gym for a feed. The feed lasted until 1:30 and then people went home.

People stayed at the wake late last night. The rosary didn’t start until after 9:00. There were about 100 people at the wake. By about 2:30 there were 35-40 people. The family stayed there all night. Katherine’s father was Paul. Her mother, Katie, had passed away.

7-9-77 mission

A church choir practice was scheduled for 10:00 this evening after Caroline and Edith decided that they would like to see a choir started after Katherine Spotted Bird’s funeral. At 10:00 Caroline and Edith picked us up and we walked over to the church. We met Mike and Brad there. Mike taught us two songs and we practiced singing an opening song, a communion and a closing song. We also practiced responses for singing during the Eucharist. After practice at 11:45, we talked about forming a choir. Susie put a notice in the church bulletin that there would be a meeting next Saturday at 6:30 before mass and all were welcome. 

7-9-77 Ray and Irma’s

I asked Ray how he was related to Katherine Spotted Bird. He said that her mother was his first cousin – related through my father. Her maiden name was Shortman. So, Katherine is my second cousin.