LYDIA SNELL obituary

LODGE POLE - Lydia "Pinky" Snell, (Cha k ta wko we ko we) "Deer Hoofed Women," 53, died April 13, 2003, at her residence in Lodge Pole due to cancer.

Wake services will be today at 7 p.m. in the Medicine Bear Lodge. Funeral services will be Thursday at 11 a.m. in the Medicine Bear Lodge, with burial following in the Lodge Pole Cemetery.

Lydia was born at Fort Belknap Agency to Walter and Agnes (Gives The Blanket) Longfox on Oct. 25, 1949. She was raised and attended elementary school in the Lodge Pole area. She graduated from Flandreau High School in South Dakota and attended Northern Montana College in Havre majoring in education. She was a teacher for the Lodge Pole Head Start.

Lydia loved powwows and dancing. She believed in maintaining her Indian traditional culture.

Lydia married Curtis Snell on Sept. 18, 1981, in Chinook.

Lydia was preceded in death by her parents, Walter and Agnes Longfox; brothers, Charles A. Gray Boy Sr., Gordon G. Gray Sr., Lyndon P. Gray, Walter Longfox Jr., Gregory Longfox and Ralph Gray Sr.

Survivors include her husband, Curtis Snell of Lodge Pole; sons, Greg Shortman of Phoenix, Ariz., Drury "Cowboy" Shortman of Rocky Boy, Bruce Shortman, Merle Snell, and Walter Snell, all of Lodge Pole; daughter, Carman Moccasin of Lodge Pole; brothers, Robert Longfox and Merrill Gray, both of Lodge Pole, Joseph Gray and Emery Gray, both of Wolf Point; sisters, Julia Longfox of Lodge Pole, Orvilla Longfox of Minnesota; aunts, Melda Gone of Poplar and Marie Birdtail of Lodge Pole; uncle, Clarence Gives of Harlem; two grandsons; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Arrangements are by Edwards Funeral Home in Chinook.