March 13, 1956 – February 5, 2025
Sampson One Skunk, Jr., 68, of Eagle Butte, passed away February 5, 2025, at Avera McKennan Hospital, Sioux Falls.
Memorial services were held February 15, 2025, at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Eagle Butte. Burial of his ashes will be in Frasier Memorial Cemetery at Red Scaffold at a later date.
Sampson One Skunk, Jr. was born March 13, 1956 to Elizabeth (InAmongst) and Sampson One Skunk, Sr. in Faith. For school, he went to Bullhead, then St. Joseph’s Indian School, then McIntosh, where he graduated in 1974.
Sam went to school in San Jose, CA, then Haskell, KS. He served in the U.S. Air Force for four years as a jet mechanic. The Air Force flew him wherever his expertise was needed. Finished with his military service, Sam went to Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, NM, where he graduated as a press man.
He and Carmen were married in 1986 and he worked at Kwik Kopy Print Shop in Albuquerque from 1985 to 1993. Returning to South Dakota, he lived and worked in Philip for 18 years at Ravellette’s Publishing as a pressman. Sam was a perfectionist; no job left his printer and press until he was satisfied it was the best job possible. Retiring in 2014, he and his family moved to Eagle Butte.
Sam played basketball everywhere he was, with many good friends and exciting times. He was a traveler, always seeing new places. He enjoyed socializing; he’d laugh and talk, putting everyone at ease as he shared his good heart.
Grateful for having shared his life are his wife, Carmen (Whirlwind Horse); his children, Chuckie, Joseph, Rilee, and Jay; his sister, Linda and her sons Charles, Richard, and Howard; his goddaughter, Ettie Mae Benoist; and a host of other relatives.
Sam was preceded in death by his parents, Elizabeth (InAmongst) and Sampson One Skunk, Sr.; his cousin, Sarah; and his grandparents, Charles and Lucy InAmongst and Peter and Josephine One Skunk.
Luce Funeral Home of Gettysburg was in charge of arrangements.