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Dana Lou Lone Hill
February 29, 1972 ~ November 15, 2019
Dana Lynn Lonehill was born on a leap day, February 29, 1972, because then she could pretend her birthday was both on February 28, March 1, and sometimes she would try for the 2nd, too. She was raised by powerful Lakota matriarchs, Grandma Dod (Darlene McLaughlin) and her mother, Jeaneen Lonehill. At age 5, she watched them fighting and screaming about a baseball game, Grandma Dod would kick Jeaneen out of the front door and Jeaneen would sneak in through the back door to watch the game. From there, Dana was hooked, she had no chance but to be unique, funny, brilliant, and a hardcore Yankees fan for the rest of her life.
Along with her little brother and heartbeat, Travis, Dana was rooted on the Pine Ridge reservation, where she learned the Lakota traditions and values that she would carry with her in all her work. At age 4, Dana started writing and her poetry was published at the age of 8. As an adult, she became an activist writer and cared deeply about the future of her people. In Dana’s words, “We have to know our history in order to move forward. Our Elders tell us all the time what happened to them. We can’t forget our history or get over it. It’s about going forward from it. We’re still here.” With her authentic voice, she was a freelance writer for The Guardian, Lakota Country Times, Last Real Indians, The Intersection of Madness and Reality, LA Progressive, and wrote for her blog JUSTAREZCHICK. In 2015, she published a book, Pointing with Lips; A week in the life of a rez chick.
Dana worked hard to preserve her traditional ways and was a true artist with many skills. She blessed many with her beautiful beadwork, quillwork, poetry, and paintings. She was a devoted mother, a doting grandmother, loving daughter, sister, aunt, and niece. Her family depended on her and her constant smile. She will be remembered for her creative spirit and beautiful writing, and also for her relentless teasing, chicken adobo, and wateca skills.
Dana, age 47, passed away in Lake City, Minnesota on November 15, 2019. Her last wish was for her kids to spread her ashes at Yankee Stadium, and for someone to bail them out.
Dana is survived by her father, Bob Lone Elk; brothers, Travis (Calais) Lone Elk, Jesse (Rita) Grey Eagle, Jaron Grey Eagle, Wakiya No Moccassin, and Keith Reynolds; sisters, Jaida Grey Eagle, Jenna (Liz) Grey Eagle, Jonna Grey Eagle, Kayla Gomez, and Shannon Lays Bad; sons, Ty (Maddie) Dixon, Jalen Dixon, Stephon Dixon; daughter, Justice Lonehill; two granddaughters, Amelia and Jorah Dixon; Grandmother Lucielle Lone Elk; and stepsisters, Leticia Fasthorse-Mesteh, Tashina Fasthorse, Zannita Fasthorse-Pongah, and Sheyota Fasthorse.
Dana is preceded in death by her mother, Jeaneen Lonehill-Grey Eagle; grandparents, Hobart and Poxy Lonehill, Gerald “Rusty” Mclaughlin Sr., Darlene “Dod” McLaughlin; maternal great grandparents, Levi Amiotte and Louis (Janis) Amiotte, Hobert Lonehill Sr. and Mary (Eagle Bull) Lonehill; and paternal great grandparents, Frank and Agnis Lone Elk.
Pallbearers will be Steven Shangreaux, Jr., Flint Tall, Carter Dixon, Joe Dixon, Sam Arcoren, and Casey McLaughlin.
Honorary pallbearers will be Joy Lynn Brewer, Lisa Bagola, Sarah Jumping Eagle, Samantha Tix, Jessica Wallowing Bull, Thil Weahkbe, Tobias Good Iron, Gregory Marto, Tonya Giago, Amy Dixon, and All Of Her Friends & Family That Adore Her.
Wake Services: One night wake service starting at 3:00 PM, Friday, November 22, 2019 at the Elderly Meals Building in Porcupine, SD with evening services starting at 7:00 PM
Funeral Services: 1:00 PM, Saturday, November 23, 2019 at the Elderly Meals Building in Porcupine, SD.
Traditional Lakota Services: Mr. David Swallow and Mr. Dick Marshall
Graveside Services: Cremation to follow services
Arrangements entrusted with Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge, SD
FROM NATIVE SUN NEWS
RED WING, Minn. — Dana Lou Lone Hill “Oyate Wacinyanpi Wi” (The People Depend On Her), 47, journeyed to the Spirit World in Lake City, Minnesota on November 15, 2019. Her last wish was for her kids to spread her ashes at Yankee Stadium, and for someone to bail them out.
Dana Lynn Lonehill was born on a leap day, February 29, 1972, because then she could pretend her birthday was both on February 28, March 1, and sometimes she would try for the 2nd, too. She was raised by powerful Lakota matriarchs, Grandma Dod (Darlene McLaughlin) and her mother, Jeaneen Lonehill. At age 5, she watched them fighting and screaming about a baseball game, Grandma Dod would kick Jeaneen out of the front door and Jeaneen would sneak in through the back door to watch the game. From there, Dana was hooked, she had no chance but to be unique, funny, brilliant, and a hardcore Yankees fan for the rest of her life.
Along with her little brother and heartbeat, Travis, Dana was rooted on the Pine Ridge reservation, where she learned the Lakota traditions and values that she would carry with her in all her work. At age 4, Dana started writing and her poetry was published at the age of 8. As an adult, she became an activist writer and cared deeply about the future of her people. In Dana’s words, “We have to know our history in order to move forward. Our Elders tell us all the time what happened to them. We can’t forget our history or get over it. It’s about going forward from it. We’re still here.” With her authentic voice, she was a freelance writer for The Guardian, Lakota Country Times, Last Real Indians, The Intersection of Madness and Reality, LA Progressive, and wrote for her blog JUSTAREZCHICK. In 2015, she published a book, Pointing with Lips; A week in the life of a rez chick.
Dana worked hard to preserve her traditional ways and was a true artist with many skills. She blessed many with her beautiful beadwork, quillwork, poetry, and paintings. She was a devoted mother, a doting grandmother, loving daughter, sister, aunt, and niece. Her family depended on her and her constant smile. She will be remembered for her creative spirit and beautiful writing, and also for her relentless teasing, chicken adobo, and wateca skills.
Dana is survived by her father, Bob Lone Elk; brothers, Travis (Calais) Lone Elk, Jesse (Rita) Grey Eagle, Jaron Grey Eagle, Wakiya No Moccassin, and Keith Reynolds; sisters, Jaida Grey Eagle, Jenna (Liz) Grey Eagle, Jonna Grey Eagle, Kayla Gomez, and Shannon Lays Bad; sons, Ty (Maddie) Dixon, Jalen Dixon, Stephon Dixon; daughter, Justice Lonehill; two granddaughters, Amelia and Jorah Dixon; Grandmother Lucielle Lone Elk; and stepsisters, Leticia Fasthorse-Mesteh, Tashina Fasthorse, Zannita Fasthorse-Pongah, and Sheyota Fasthorse.
Dana is preceded in death by her mother, Jeaneen Lonehill-Grey Eagle; grandparents, Hobart and Poxy Lonehill, Gerald “Rusty” Mclaughlin Sr., Darlene “Dod” McLaughlin; maternal great grandparents, Levi Amiotte and Louis (Janis) Amiotte, Hobert Lonehill Sr. and Mary (Eagle Bull) Lonehill; and paternal great grandparents, Frank and Agnis Lone Elk.
Pallbearers will be Steven Shangreaux, Jr., Flint Tall, Carter Dixon, Joe Dixon, Sam Arcoren, and Casey McLaughlin.
Honorary pallbearers will be Joy Lynn Brewer, Lisa Bagola, Sarah Jumping Eagle, Samantha Tix, Jessica Wallowing Bull, Thil Weahkbe, Tobias Good Iron, Gregory Marto, Tonya Giago, Amy Dixon, and All Of Her Friends & Family That Adore Her.
Wake services were Friday, November 22, 2019 at the Elderly Meals Building in Porcupine.
Funeral services were November 23, 2019 at the Elderly Meals Building in Porcupine.
Traditional Lakota Services: Mr. David Swallow and Mr. Dick Marshall
Graveside Services: Cremation to follow services
Arrangements entrusted with Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge, SD


2014 Interview

Dana Lone Hill, An Inspiring Lakota Writer, Activist


Dana Lone Hill, Oyate WačhíŋyAŋpi is a dedicated Native woman, mother, writer and activist with a family history full of notable Lakota people on both sides of her parentage. Dana can rest assured that her place in her tribe, the Oglala Lakota, is undisputable. On her mother’s side, she is the granddaughter of Susie Shot In The Eye, noted for walking back from Canada to be with her people and for being one of the most recognized Women Warriors, having fought in the Battle at Greasy Grass.
She fought valiantly alongside her sons Rock, Lone Hill and High Wolf along with her husband Shot In the Eye. On her paternal side, her grandfather is Lone Elk who was later named Caesar and his wife Mattie Shields. Lone Elk is noted for being part of the charge that dispelled Reno during the Battle at Greasy Grass.
Fast-forward to 1973, Dana also has connections to both sides of the contentious Wounded Knee standoff. On her mother’s side she is related to Richard “Dick” Wilson who was the president of the tribe at the time. On her father’s side she is related to Pedro Bissonnette, one of the leaders and organizers of the American Indian Movement. Most recently Dana has published her first fiction novel, “Pointing With Lips” (PWL), set on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Because of the great success the book has found, and despite her adamant stance that there would not be a sequel, Dana is currently working on part two of “Pointing With Lips”.
"You can find hundreds of books, stories, and information written about the Lakota people, but hardly none written by a Lakota person. This is why it is so important to write, we have our own stories. This is why our youth need to learn our stories, our ways, and to use their voices."

Pointing With Lips” is not Dana’s first foray into writing. She has been a freelance writer for the Lakota Country Times since 2006, and actually had her first published piece of poetry in the Rapid City Journal at the tender age of eight.
“It is rare that you come across a new voice as authentic as Dana Lone Hill. She writes with passion and determination about a side of America that few will ever see. But Lonehill takes you there with emotion and raw power. Pointing With Lips is a startling debut.” ~Paul Harris


Pointing With Lips
 covers a week in the life of Sincere Strongheart in Pine Ridge, interacting with many unforgettable characters in her large family. Sincere’s story is funny, raw, sad, even suspenseful, but the main struggle lives inside her as she hopes to overcome the buried demons of her past.
“Dana Lone Hill is a powerful new voice from Lakota Country that has so often been confined to historical stereotype or painted in a contemporary setting with a one dimensional brush. Dana shatters those shackles and forms a deeply personal, raw and moving narrative that takes the reader deep into contemporary life on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, one of the world’s most complex and engaging societies.” ~Steven Lewis Simpson, director of the Native films Rez Bomb
In 2011 she started contributing to The Guardian. A short story of hers will be included in the upcoming release of Off The Pass 2, which is a collection of Native writers. In addition to her writing, Dana Lone Hill is a very vocal activist for various causes in and around Indian Country. Recently one of the most sacred sites in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Pesla, came up for sale or auction. Dana used her platform as a writer with founding writers Dr. Sara Jumping Eagle, Chase Iron Eyes, and Ruth Hopkins for Last Real Indians to call together the various tribes to help spearhead a campaign to bring that site back under the guardianship of Lakota tribes. The campaign was successful and the site is now under the protection of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.
“Pesla has the most meaning to me because we did it and it was so historic with the tribes coming together and listening to the people,” explains Dana.” Plus all the celebrities we were able to get to help us promote and get the awareness out there.”
Dana Lone Hill is currently using her platform to promote a petition to rescind the “medals of honor” given to those soldiers who were involved in the brutal massacre at Wounded Knee.

Dana Lone Hill is definitely one of “The People’s Voices” due to her ability to speak the minds of the typical reservation resident as well as impart the value and use of “Indian Humor” that has helped her people sustain their existence despite it all.
Dana Lone Hill is the mother of four and currently has an award winning column for Lakota Country Times called Rez In The City.
Source: Dana Lone Hill, An Inspiring Lakota Writer, Activist

A new literary journal in indigenous studies, Transmotion, has published its first issue today and Blue Hand Books author Dana Lone Hill has her book Pointing with Lips: A Week in the Life of a Rez Chick reviewed.
From the review:
Pointing with Lips is filled with wonderful inside jokes about PSA Indians, recycling owls, commod cheese, wateca, and pointing with lips, but there are also Lakota lessons being passed along in the picturesque descriptions of the Black Hills, Badlands, and even the Pine Ridge Reservation. In our interview, Lone Hill told me, "People see our reservations and they see poverty, broken down communities and families. What they do not see is the beauty I see and respect. Landscapes tell a story, they tell [us] we need to continue with educating the next generation that we belong to this land and we need to care for the land that feeds us, shelters us, gives us water." The stories are passed down from generation to generation in the novel and in Lone Hill's life, "I think my biggest influences for storytelling were two of my grandfathers. I was never presented them in written form, always oral and I try to remember them and tell them to my children. It is a way of keeping our history... alive." The story Lone Hill passes down and the stories Sis narrates are Lakota histories recorded for survivance.
via Pointing with Lips: A Week in the Life of a Rez Chick (Dana Lone Hill) | Twenter | Transmotion.


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