Chadrad.com

Bernice Ione "Unci" (Swallow) Stone, TaCanku lyoyumpe Win (Her Path is Shining Woman), Lakota/Northern Cheyenne, passed away Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011, after a brief hard fight with cancer, surrounded by her loving children and grandchildren.

She was born Oct. 1, 1926, at Black Tail Deer to Zoe Monroe and Charles Swallow Sr.

Bernice grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation and was the eldest of her siblings.

She married John B. Richard in 1944 and traveled with him for 16 years during his Army career. She took her baby son, Joe, with them to Europe, her daughter Ione was born in Austria. They were transferred to the U.S. and daughter Linda was born at Lincoln, Neb. She was the last one born while traveling in the service.

She graduated from Oglala Lakota College in the early '80s. She worked at Indian Health Services as a mental health technician and retired from there.

In the late '70s, she founded the first domestic violence shelter for women on the Pine Ridge Reservation - Sacred Shawl Women's Society, Inc.

In the mid '90s the Grey Eagle Society honored her for her work with women and families. She wrote the legislation for the Oglala Sioux Tribe for family violence. She was part of the Maka Luta Sundance Society for the past 30 years.

She loved the bazaars and flea markets at the Sacred Heart Church.

She will be missed and loved forever by her family and friends.

Immediate Survivors:

Children: Joseph (Anita) Richard Sr. of Coulee Dam, Wash., Linda Richard (Floyd Butler) of Rapid City, Debra (Alex) White Plume of Manderson, Michelle (Steve) Tyon of Porcupine, Denise Richard of Pine Ridge, and Tami Stone of Rapid City.

Numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren

Brothers & Sisters: James Swallow of Conway, Ark., Woodrow "Babe" Swallow of Sioux Falls, Marie Swallow Scherer of Palm Springs, Calif