ANDREW MCCLOUD Jr.

Andrew "Sonny" McCloud, Jr. Dec. 03, 1921 - Nov. 27, 2009 Andrew "Sonny" McCloud, Jr., 87, of Yelm, WA, died early Friday morning, November 27, 2009 at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia. He was taken to the hospital Thursday evening with complications of a weakening heart after a large family gathering for Thanksgiving and early celebration for what would have been his 88th birthday on December 3, 2009. Andrew was born on December 3, 1921 at Mud Bay, WA just west of Olympia to Andrew McCloud I, and Angeline Tobin McCloud on the James Tobin Indian homestead allotment. At age seven he moved to Franks Landing on the Nisqually River where his mother "Angie" had married Bill Frank, Sr., who died at age 104 in 1983. Andrew's mother died in 1986 at age 95. In August of this year, Andrew and his wife Edith Kanine McCloud had observed a Second Wedding celebrating their 65 years of marriage. Most of their twelve living sons and daughters and their families attended that celebration and many of them were also at his Thanksgiving Birthday dinner on Thursday. Also with him at the home and then at the hospital were his younger sister, Theresa Maiselle Bridges and brother, Billy Frank, Jr., both of Olympia. A member of the Puyallup Indian Tribe, Andrew was a retired member of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 77 (Seattle). In his nearly forty years as a journeyman lineman, which began for him in the 1950s, he had worked throughout the union's Washington, Idaho, and Western Montana regions, and additionally from Northern California to Southeast Alaska. In his youth and into his forties he also had been a fisherman on the Nisqually River. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, Andrew married Edith Kanine after receiving a medical discharge. They purchased a twenty-acre home site in Yelm, Washington where they raised their family - now grown to include grandchildren, great grand children, and even great-great grandchildren. In recent years Andrew traveled regularly back and forth between Yelm and Pendleton, OR where his wife, Edith continually worked in cultural education and language programs for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, where she is an enrolled member. In addition to his wife, Edith at the family home in Yelm, Andrew is survived by his sons, Andrew, III (Melinda) McCloud of Nisqually Reservation, WA; Mike McCloud of Pendleton, OR; Kenny (Mary) McCloud of Yakima, WA; Raymond (Abbey) McCloud of Tacoma, WA; and daughters, Patricia (Larson) Kalama, of Warm Springs, OR; Billie (Danny) McGee of Nisqually Reservation, WA; Norma (Frank "Sonny") Eaglespeaker of Yelm, WA; Marcella (Otto) Eaglespeaker of White Swan, WA; Gail (Rudy) Hernandez of Fife, WA; Angie McCloud of Pendleton, OR; Rosie McCloud Johnson of Killeen, TX; and Maiselle "Mazie" (Monty) Altaha of Yelm, WA. Andrew is also survived by numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, and a great-great grandson and by many nephews, nieces, and cousins, as well as by his sister, Maiselle Bridges and brother Billy Frank, Jr. He was preceded in death by his son, Russell McCloud and daughter, Linda Rose McCloud, as well as by his two older sisters, Rose Fredericks John and Elsie McCloud Capoeman of Taholah, Quinault Indian Reservation, WA; and by his younger brother Don McCloud of Yelm, WA. Wa Shat religious services for Andrew will be led by Armand Minthorn of the Confederation of Umatilla Tribes, beginning at 6pm Sunday, November 29, 2009 at Wa-He-Lut Indian School Gymnasium at Franks Landing on the Nisqually River, 11110 Conine Ave. SE, Olympia, WA (Interstate I-5, Exit 114). Following the Wa Shat service and prayers the evening wake will be opened to other religious denominations and speakers, prayers, drummers, and singers, with Frank "Sonny" Eaglespeaker providing spiritual guidance during this period. The services will suspend at midnight and resume at 9am Monday, November 30th. Wa Shat Interment Services will follow at the Tobin Family Cemetery of the Squaxin Island Tribe (2347 Gravelly Loop NW in Mud Bay, Highway 101 North, Exit at Steamboat Island mile marker 360), exclusively officiated by Armand Minthorn. Arrangements are in care of Forest Funeral Home, Olympia, Washington.