Vincent Goes Ahead Sr.

PRYOR - Vincent Goes Ahead, Sr., 76, of Pryor, passed away on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2002, at St. Vincent's Hospital, Billings. His Crow name was Isahpalaxpitchee (Bear Moccasin). Vincent was born in a tent in Pryor, on Aug. 16, 1925, the son of George Goes Ahead and Sarah Bull that Shows Weasel High Up. He was a member of the Greasy Mouth Clan and a child of the Big Lodge Clan. He attended grade school at St. Charles Mission, and high school at Chemawa, Ore.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army on Nov. 5, 1943, and served in the European theatre during World War II, participating in five campaigns at Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe, including the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge. For his service, he received five bronze stars and a silver star. He was honorably discharged on Jan. 21, 1946. He helped established the American Legion Post 17 for the Pryor District.

After the war, he ranched with his brothers and brothers-in-law and contracted rodeo stock. He participated in rodeos as a calf roper.

He was an accomplished arrow-thrower and was part of the Pryor District team that won many arrow-throwing championships and was the high-point man several times. He enjoyed playing hand games and during the very first District Hand Game Tournament, which was won by Pryor, he shared Best Guesser with John Smart Enemy. He was also a traditional war dancer and was proud to sing his praise song for his grandsons and great-grandsons when they won the arrow tournament this year. Vincent gave Crow names to many of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and was proud of their successes and accomplishments. His love of baseball was shared by his children and grandchildren.

Vincent was employed in various capacities as a laborer at the Sugar Factory in Billings and the Bean Factory in Powell,Wyo., as a maintenance man for the Crow Agency Bureau of Indian Affairs, and as a Crow Tribal game warden for many years in the Pryor Mountains. He was currently employed by the Crow Tribe as the Cultural Historian for the Pryor District.

As a direct descendent of Chief Plenty Coups, he was keeper of Plenty Coups' original flag, which he donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Vincent owned the right to doctor horses in the Crow way, and he often helped people with his favorite Indian herbal medicine, xapaalilitshia (bitter root).

He was a member of St. Charles Catholic Parish, Pryor, and was faithful to the cultural and spiritual practices of the Crow people. He participated in the sun dance, and enjoyed the sweat lodge throughout his life. He was adopted into the Tobacco Society by Frank Hawk, who gave him his Indian name. An accomplished storyteller, he was always willing to share traditional Crow stories with anyone who would listen.

His parents, his wife Melda Crystal Cloud; brother Thomas DeCrane; sisters, Mary Dawes, Rose Turns Plenty and Beulah Stewart; and granddaughters, Melda Little Light and Adelle Goes Ahead, preceded him in death.

Survivors include his wife, Anna Jean Stands Over Bull; two sons, Marlan (Thelma) and Vincent Jr. (Abigail) Goes Ahead; five daughters, Wyma (Richard) Little Light, Karen Goes Ahead, Natalie Little Owl, Beulah Goes Ahead, and Mary (Todd) Volk; adopted sons, Richard Furber and Benjamin Cloud; an adopted daughter, Irma Jane Bird Hat; and a stepson, Eymard (Sarah) Left Hand. He took the women of the Rock Above Family as his sisters.

He is also survived by his brothers, Charles (Gladys) DeCrane, Sylvester (Ruby) Goes Ahead, and Clement (Regina) Goes Ahead; and his sisters, Josephine Whiteman, Gloria Cummins and Agnes (Larry) Pretty Weasel, as well as an adopted brother, David (Lenora) Turns Plenty, Sr.; and adopted sister, Charlene Laverdure.

Also survived by his grandchildren, Fred Killsnight, Jr., Brandy Little Light, Kathy Fighter, Regina, Ellsworth, Jeanette, Vetma, Lorita, George and William Goes Ahead, Isaac Goes Ahead and Brandon Covers Up, Julian, Falon and Crystal Goes Ahead, Tammy Bellrock, William Cashen, Tawny Little Owl, Nehemiah Little Light, Jamie Lawrence and Karma Little Light, Vincent "Zac" Goes Ahead-Volk, Mariah and Mykal Volk, and Darrell and Carlotta Left Hand; as well as 24 great-grandchildren. Vincent considered himself blessed that he lived to see his great-great-grandson, Elisha Reevis, Jr. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews who were very special to him. His extended relatives include the Old Horn, Rock Above, Lionshows, Plainbull, Morrison, Jefferson, Wall and Big Hail families.

A rosary will be held on Friday, Aug. 16, at 6 p.m. at the Dahl Funeral Chapel in Billings. Funeral Mass will be at St. Charles Mission in Pryor, on Saturday, Aug. 17, at 10 a.m., with burial at the Goes Ahead Family Cemetery with military honors.