"A traditional healer on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota reminded my family that death can inspire both sorrow and hope.

Our family would lose a loved one, the medicine man said. But he reminded us: We are not humans on a spiritual adventure but spirits on a human adventure.

No spirit lived that human adventure more fully than Vine Deloria Jr., who died at 6:30 a.m. Nov. 13 in a Boulder, Colo., hospital.

Phones began to ring and e-mails started circulating that Sunday: A warrior of the Northern Plains had fallen, a warrior whose deeds have resonated far beyond the Great Lakota Nation."

Get the Story:
Jodi Rave: Deloria was an expert on living the human adventure (The Lincoln Journal Star 11/17)

Indian Country Today Articles from January 10, 2005:
Wilma Mankiller: An original thinker with a warrior's spirit
Suzan Shown Harjo: Selective memories of Vine Deloria Jr.
Faith Spotted Eagle: Deksi (Uncle) Vine
Charlie Wilkins: Visionary thinker and wordsmith par excellence
Hank Adams: A Vine Deloria Jr. collaboration: The first decade
John Mohawk: Vine Deloria Jr.'s unfolding legacy
Philip Deloria: Tales of a remarkable father
Norbert Hill: A hero to many

Related Stories:
Rick Williams: On the passing of Vine Deloria Jr. (11/16)
Editorial: Deloria changed how America views Indians (11/16)
Art Coulson: Safe journey for Vine Deloria Jr. (11/16)
Appreciation: Deloria an influential American (11/16)
Indian Country: In memoriam Vine Deloria Jr. (11/16)
Editorial: Deloria contributed to all Americans (11/16)
Vine DeLoria: Spoke for a nation of Natives (11/15)
Deloria hailed as 'visionary' for role in Indian affairs (03/11)
Jodi Rave: Deloria unknown because he's Indian (01/24)
Vine Deloria is ICT's American Indian Visionary (01/10)
Column: Vine Deloria refuses honorary degree (05/25)