Grace Frances Thorpe

Grace Frances Thorpe was born on December 10, 1921, in Yale, Oklahoma, and departed this life on Tuesday, April 1, 2008, in Claremore, Oklahoma, at the age of 86. Grace was the daughter of Olympic gold medal winner, James Francis Thorpe and Iva Margaret Miller Thorpe. She was given the Sac and Fox name No Ten O Quah which means 'Wind Woman.' Grace''s bloodline also included the Potawatomi, Kickapoo, and Menominee tribes. She proudly served her country in the United States Army during World War II as a WAC Corporal in New Guinea, the Philippines, and Japan. She then received a B.A. degree in Indian Law from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, a paralegal degree from the Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C., was an Urban Fellow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and completed MBA course work at Northeastern State University at Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Grace was a legislative aide to the US Senate Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., a conference coordinator of the National Congress of American Indians in Washington, D.C., a congressional liaison to the U.S. House of Representatives American Indian Policy Review Commission in Washington, D.C., director of Return Surplus Lands to Indians project; and was a personnel interviewer for General Douglas MacArthur at his headquarters in Tokyo during the occupation of Japan. Grace was also the director for the National Environmental Coalition of Native Americans NECONA, for the 'Jim Thorpe Athlete of the Century' campaign. She was also a tribal judge and health commissioner of the Sac and Fox Nation in Stroud, Oklahoma. She was a powerful speaker and a well-known activist. She was a lifetime member of the VFW Post 1118 in Cushing, Oklahoma. Grace lived life to the fullest and embraced death as she did life. She loved to be outside and enjoyed feeding the ducks and singing songs to her grandchildren. Grace was preceded in death by her parents, two sisters, two brothers, and one son. Survivors include her daughter,Dagmar Thorpe Seely of Bloomington, Indiana; granddaughter,Tena Malotte and her fianc, Tenug Woodward of Shawnee; great-grandchildren, Aspen, Huna'', Aislinn, Salem, Macy, Mv''kvl''ke; and brothers, William Thorpe, Richard Thorpe, and John 'Jack' Thorpe. A graveside service will be held at the St. Leo Cemetery in Cushing, Oklahoma on Friday, April 4, 2008 at 10:00 AM officiated by Father Paul Amaliri. Military honors will be provided by VFW Post #1118 and the Sac and Fox Nation.