"Elsie Elaine Fairbanks worked throughout her life to better the lives of American Indians, from mothers-to-be to those struggling with alcoholism to those just plain struggling.

Her work ended with her death Feb. 16 at 74 after a long illness.

Though she attained only a high-school diploma, her resume included work at the St. Paul American Indian Center, the Red School House in St. Paul and — for the last 24 years — the St. Paul Area Council of Churches’ Department of Indian Work. There she helped set up an emergency food bank feeding 100 Indian families a month and helped organize a Thanksgiving and Christmas gift-basket program serving as many as 250 families."

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Elsie Fairbanks dedicated her life to helping American Indians (MinnPost 2/20)