10/05/2019 - Floyd Leonard Hand Jr.

Funeral services for Floyd Leonard Hand Jr. “Pte Ole Hoksila,” age 80, will be at 10:00 AM on Saturday, October 5, 2019 at the Pine Ridge Elementary School Gym in Pine Ridge, SD. Traditional Lakota services will be provided by “Scotty” Brown Eyes.

Burial will be at the White Cow Killer Family Cemetery, Red Cloud Community, near Pine Ridge, SD.

A two-night wake service will begin at 3:30 PM on Thursday, October 3, 2019 at the Pine Ridge Elementary School Gym in Pine Ridge, SD with prayer services starting at 7:00 PM each night.

Floyd passed away on September 30, 2019 in Rapid City, SD. He was a veteran in the U.S. Army.

Floyd was born in a cabin along the banks of the White Clay Creek in Red Cloud Community. He was the first born, in a planned marriage of the Mahpiya Luta and Tasunke Witko bands, to Marion White Cow Killer and Floyd Hand Sr.

Floyd attended Holy Rosary Mission Boarding School until the 10th grade and then graduated from Oglala Community School, excelling in basketball.

After high school, Floyd joined the U.S. Army in 1956 and was stationed on the Czechoslovakian/Eastern Germany border during the Cold War. He always joked that he could sneak across the border into enemy territory and party with the Germans because they liked Native Americans. He was honorably discharged in 1961.

Through teachings from his beloved Ga’kala Frank Young Man Afraid of His Horses and his Unci Emma White Cow Killer, Floyd had great reverence for the Lakota way of life and was a freedom fighter for his Lakota oyate. He fought for native rights all across Turtle Island and was a proud member of the American Indian Movement. He was given a five-year floater off the Pine Ridge Reservation in the late 1970s as punishment.

He moved to Minnesota, found sobriety and pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Psychology from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Floyd worked as a street counselor to inner-city gangs in the Twin Cities and worked for the Federal Bureau of Prisons to counsel and pray with inmates. He also served as Chairman of the Minneapolis Indian Health Board and was a spiritual leader for the large native population in the Twin Cities.

Floyd gained his spiritual teachings from Leksi Frank Fools Crow, Dawson Has No Horse, Willie Wounded, Martin High Bear and James DuBray. He was made a Buffalo Na’ca by Leksi Frank Fools Crow and committed to feeding the oyate for life.

Through sobriety, he became a world champion traditional dancer. He joined his tahansi Severt Young Bear Sr.’s drum group, the Porcupine Singers, and his passion for singing and dancing took him all over the U.S. and Canada. He participated in the Si Tanka Wokiksuye ride to honor his great-great-grandfather Big Foot (Spotted Elk).

At the request of his beloved Tu’win Zona Fills The Pipe, he moved home to the reservation in 1993. He continued his counseling work and became a staunch treaty rights advocate. Through the tutelage of mentors like Johnson Holy Rock and Leksi Oliver Red Cloud, he was appointed to the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council.

Floyd is survived by wife Natalie (Little) Hand; children Gayla Rose Bordeaux Kapule of Waipahu, HI, Barry (Maggie) Hand of St. Paul MN, Floyd “Sonny” Hand III of Pine Ridge SD, Cody Larson of Brainerd MN, Rachael Hand of Chadron NE, and Cante’ Maza (Ieisha) Hand of Oglala SD; numerous beloved grandchildren and great-grandchildren; hunka children Steve DuBray Jr. of Allen SD, Jake Two Bulls of Oglala, SD, Lariah High Hawk of Rapid City SD, Samantha Rainbow of Omaha, NE, and Brianna Sutta of Burnsville, MN; sister Margie Bluebird of Duluth MN; hunka mother Marie Randall of Wanblee SD; hunka sister Codi High Elk of Thunder Butte SD; hunka brothers Ray Owen of Prairie Island MN, Oliver Poile of Gull Bay First Nation of Ontario, Canada, Morris Shapwaykeesic of White Sand First Nation in Canada, and Steve DuBray of Allen, SD; and many other hunka relatives through the U.S. and Canada.

Floyd was preceded in death by his parents; brothers Wayne, Irby, and Elton Hand; and sisters Annabelle, Francis, and Arlene Hand.

Pallbearers will be Garan White Cow Killer-Coons, Martin Jones, Jesse Hand Jr., Roger Hare Jr., Rob Spade, Will Blacksmith, Ian Lewis, and J.J. Kent.

Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge, SD is in charge of arrangements for Floyd Leonard Hand Jr.