LOWER BRULE, S.D. (AP) – Hundreds of mourners, representatives from South Dakota’s tribal governments and state and federal leaders gathered Thursday to remember late Lower Brule Sioux Tribal Chairman Michael Jandreau, who was considered an icon in Indian Country.
Leaders from other Native American tribes from South Dakota and neighboring states paid respects to Jandreau and told stories to a packed gymnasium of funeral-goers at the Lower Brule Community Center. The 71-year-old Jandreau died on April 3 from heart problems at a Sioux Falls hospital after serving as a leader in the tribe for more than 35 years.
Former Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation Chairman Tex Hall was one of many leaders who noted Jandreau’s long tenure at the helm of tribal government on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation along the Missouri River.
“I always knew him as chairman,” Hall said. “He was devoted to the Lower Brule people.”
Jandreau was elected to the Lower Brule Tribal Council in the early 1970s and later became chairman. He earned praise from tribal members and state and federal leaders for economic development projects that benefited the 1,300 Native Americans on the reservation.
The tribe owns the Golden Buffalo Casino & Motel, a propane plant, a construction company, hunting and tourism enterprises, and a farm that is known as one of the nation’s top popcorn producers and processers.
But Jandreau spent his final days defending himself against allegations of financial wrongdoing outlined in January by Human Rights Watch. The group accused him and others of diverting money and concealing financial activity. Jandreau and Marshall Matz, who has been an attorney for the tribe, have vigorously denied those allegations.
Those present described Jandreau as a tireless champion of the Lower Brule Sioux and Indian Country as whole who was unconcerned with taking credit for his work. Crow Creek Sioux Tribal Chairwoman Roxanne Sazue said Jandreau was a very spiritual man, and the ceremony included both Catholic and traditional Native American elements.
“I don’t know if we have someone within our whole, big nation to do what Mike has done keeping us together,” Oglala Sioux Tribal President John Yellow Bird Steele said.
Jandreau was born Oct. 20, 1943, in Fort Thompson on the Crow Creek reservation. He was educated in Catholic American Indian schools. His wife, Jackie, died in 2011.
Standing in the gymnasium with a child perched on his arm, Jandreau’s nephew, Boyd Gourneau, called the service “a wonderful tribute for a wonderful man.”
“My heart is heavy,” Gourneau said. “He was my uncle, my mentor. He’ll be greatly missed.”
