On October 2, 2006 at 1:34 AM My Wife Linda and I were with my Mother Terry Dancing Willow when she started her journey to the Spirit Lands.

She had battled cancer for 3 years and survived cancer three times it was her 4th bout with it that left her too weak to fight on, she crossed over peacefully in her sleep while Linda held one hand and I was holding the other.

The following morning Linda and I went to the funeral parlor to smudge her for the last time; we smudge our Elders with sage, sweet grass and cedar to cleanse their Spirit before they enter the Spirit Lands.

It was good to see how the funeral Director fixed her up so that she looked as we remember her before her cancer, she looked at peace and as if she were just sleeping, it was good for Linda and I to see her this way because when we had seen her in the nursing home she looked so tired and ill, it was as though she was renewed both in body and in Spirit.

I was honored to be able to be by her side at the moment of her crossing, I know this is what she wanted, we will be conducting her Crossing Over Ceremony on Oct. 22, 2006 in the North Country, her 4 Spiritual Warriors were selected by me prior to her passing and she had approved all of them.

The Crossing Ceremony alerts her Spirit [that is still here saying her good byes to her loved ones] That it is her time to Journey onward to the Spirit Lands, her Earth name is retired and she will be known as Mother from that day forward, we believe that to speak her name after the ceremony would be to disturb her journey in the after life.

To know this woman was to know one of the world’s finest female warriors that ever walked Mother Earth’s soil, she had helped more people in her life time than anyone could track, she was an inspiration to all who met her.

I'm proud that I was granted the privilege to be her son; I hope that she will be the one who will greet me in the Spirit lands when my time comes.

I want to thank all of those who have been praying for her and for their words of wisdom, compassion and hope during this long ordeal, my Wife and I are honored to have such friends, her passing has already sent ripples of sorrow through some 30 Native Tribes in the USA.

I wish to thank all of the Tribal Members from those tribes for their well wishes and prayers.

On my Mothers request there was to be no wake or funeral, she considered this distasteful and wanted to be completed in the Traditional way.

She leaves behind two sons and two daughters, 4 brothers 4 sisters, 9 Grand Children and 7 Great Grand Children.

She started life as a Mill girl in the textile industry of the Lowell Mills when she was old enough to work, prior to this she worked the families’ farm, and she later worked in many manufacturing fields.

She was the Mom that all neighborhood children would seek out when they had a problem that they did not want to discuss with their own Mom or Dad, she always had the right advice.

The world has lost a Great Spirit but as we mourn here the Spirit Lands rejoice at her arrival.

REST IN PEACE TERRY DANCING WILLOW!