Susan Louise Kelly was born in 1925 in Fort Yates, North Dakota, on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, one of eight children to Josephine and Colvin Kelly. She was descended from a line of hereditary chiefs, including her great-grandfather, Chief Mahto Nunpa, and her mother became tribal chairperson in 1946.
She attended boarding schools, including a Catholic boarding school in South Dakota and the Bismarck Indian School in North Dakota, before returning to attend high school in Fort Yates. She spoke in later years of the abuse she and others experienced in boarding schools and how glad she was to return home, according to an obituary written by her daughter.
"She often reminisced about growing up across the road from Sitting Bull's original grave, and how she and her siblings designated themselves as protectors of his resting place," her daughter wrote. "They turned to him for solace, and whispered their secrets to his spirit."
In 1942, at age 17, she moved to Chicago to work for a Dakota woman as a housekeeper and companion. She eventually moved on to a book-distributing company in Chicago, where she became executive assistant to the director. It was there she met Carleton Gilmore Power, who worked for a New York publishing company and would visit the company where she worked. They married, and her daughter Mona was born in 1961.
Her legacy endures at the American Indian Center of Chicago, which remains a hub for the Indigenous community, hosting an annual pow wow and other events, nearly 70 years after it opened.
"She was an extrovert who loved people of all backgrounds, and keenly felt the pain of injustices they suffered," Mona Power said. "She did her best to help. All who knew her will never forget this example of traditional Dakota leadership."
Power was predeceased by her husband, Carleton G. Power, who died in 1973, and all her siblings. She is survived by daughter Mona Susan Power; stepson, Douglas Power, and his wife, Jeanann Glassford Power; stepdaughter, Marjorie Mbilinyi; and grandchildren, Douglas Drew and Alessandra Power, and Nnali, Anina and Lyungai Mbilinyi.
She attended boarding schools, including a Catholic boarding school in South Dakota and the Bismarck Indian School in North Dakota, before returning to attend high school in Fort Yates. She spoke in later years of the abuse she and others experienced in boarding schools and how glad she was to return home, according to an obituary written by her daughter.
"She often reminisced about growing up across the road from Sitting Bull's original grave, and how she and her siblings designated themselves as protectors of his resting place," her daughter wrote. "They turned to him for solace, and whispered their secrets to his spirit."
In 1942, at age 17, she moved to Chicago to work for a Dakota woman as a housekeeper and companion. She eventually moved on to a book-distributing company in Chicago, where she became executive assistant to the director. It was there she met Carleton Gilmore Power, who worked for a New York publishing company and would visit the company where she worked. They married, and her daughter Mona was born in 1961.
Her legacy endures at the American Indian Center of Chicago, which remains a hub for the Indigenous community, hosting an annual pow wow and other events, nearly 70 years after it opened.
"She was an extrovert who loved people of all backgrounds, and keenly felt the pain of injustices they suffered," Mona Power said. "She did her best to help. All who knew her will never forget this example of traditional Dakota leadership."
Power was predeceased by her husband, Carleton G. Power, who died in 1973, and all her siblings. She is survived by daughter Mona Susan Power; stepson, Douglas Power, and his wife, Jeanann Glassford Power; stepdaughter, Marjorie Mbilinyi; and grandchildren, Douglas Drew and Alessandra Power, and Nnali, Anina and Lyungai Mbilinyi.
Susan Louise Kelly was born in 1925 in Fort Yates, North Dakota, on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, one of eight children to Josephine and Colvin Kelly. She was descended from a line of hereditary chiefs, including her great-grandfather, Chief Mahto Nunpa, and her mother became tribal chairperson in 1946.
She attended boarding schools, including a Catholic boarding school in South Dakota and the Bismarck Indian School in North Dakota, before returning to attend high school in Fort Yates. She spoke in later years of the abuse she and others experienced in boarding schools and how glad she was to return home, according to an obituary written by her daughter.
"She often reminisced about growing up across the road from Sitting Bull's original grave, and how she and her siblings designated themselves as protectors of his resting place," her daughter wrote. "They turned to him for solace, and whispered their secrets to his spirit."
In 1942, at age 17, she moved to Chicago to work for a Dakota woman as a housekeeper and companion. She eventually moved on to a book-distributing company in Chicago, where she became executive assistant to the director. It was there she met Carleton Gilmore Power, who worked for a New York publishing company and would visit the company where she worked. They married, and her daughter Mona was born in 1961.
Her legacy endures at the American Indian Center of Chicago, which remains a hub for the Indigenous community, hosting an annual pow wow and other events, nearly 70 years after it opened.
"She was an extrovert who loved people of all backgrounds, and keenly felt the pain of injustices they suffered," Mona Power said. "She did her best to help. All who knew her will never forget this example of traditional Dakota leadership."
Power was predeceased by her husband, Carleton G. Power, who died in 1973, and all her siblings. She is survived by daughter Mona Susan Power; stepson, Douglas Power, and his wife, Jeanann Glassford Power; stepdaughter, Marjorie Mbilinyi; and grandchildren, Douglas Drew and Alessandra Power, and Nnali, Anina and Lyungai Mbilinyi.
She attended boarding schools, including a Catholic boarding school in South Dakota and the Bismarck Indian School in North Dakota, before returning to attend high school in Fort Yates. She spoke in later years of the abuse she and others experienced in boarding schools and how glad she was to return home, according to an obituary written by her daughter.
"She often reminisced about growing up across the road from Sitting Bull's original grave, and how she and her siblings designated themselves as protectors of his resting place," her daughter wrote. "They turned to him for solace, and whispered their secrets to his spirit."
In 1942, at age 17, she moved to Chicago to work for a Dakota woman as a housekeeper and companion. She eventually moved on to a book-distributing company in Chicago, where she became executive assistant to the director. It was there she met Carleton Gilmore Power, who worked for a New York publishing company and would visit the company where she worked. They married, and her daughter Mona was born in 1961.
Her legacy endures at the American Indian Center of Chicago, which remains a hub for the Indigenous community, hosting an annual pow wow and other events, nearly 70 years after it opened.
"She was an extrovert who loved people of all backgrounds, and keenly felt the pain of injustices they suffered," Mona Power said. "She did her best to help. All who knew her will never forget this example of traditional Dakota leadership."
Power was predeceased by her husband, Carleton G. Power, who died in 1973, and all her siblings. She is survived by daughter Mona Susan Power; stepson, Douglas Power, and his wife, Jeanann Glassford Power; stepdaughter, Marjorie Mbilinyi; and grandchildren, Douglas Drew and Alessandra Power, and Nnali, Anina and Lyungai Mbilinyi.
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