Sue Antiste
courtesy photo
Sue Antiste
BIG ARM — Sue Antiste, passed away on Dec. 18, 2020, at the family home in Big Arm. Sue was born on Feb. 10, 1935, in St. Ignatius to Josephine Caye and Louis Finley Squeque.
Sue grew up mainly in Elmo with her youngest years in Arlee. She attended school at Ursulines in St. Ignatius and in Elmo. She was the oldest of nine in her family.
Sue married Tom Antiste on Feb. 15, 1953. They had eight children together.
They were a very active couple together that enjoyed boating and water skiing. They were also a part of the Indian Relocation Program and were able to move to Roswell, New Mexico, for a couple of years. Living there enabled them to travel and do lots of sight-seeing and attend many pow wows in the area.
Sue enjoyed cutting wood for the family home as well as thinning, cutting and selling Christmas trees, planting trees and piling brush and firefighting.
She also loved camping, picking huckleberries and helping her in-laws tan hides and do quite a bit of bead work.
Sue worked for the tribe in various jobs, which included being a community health rep (C.H.R.) and her favorite job was being the Botanist for Kootenai Culture in Elmo. She loved being in the woods finding our native plants and recording them for our history.
Susie was very honored to be Headwoman Dancer for the Standing Arrow Pow Wow every year in Elmo. That honor meant a lot to her and she took the position seriously and with great enjoyment.
Susie had and a great sense of humor and loved to laugh and joke. If you told her a secret, it was kept for life, and she was very honest (blunt). You knew if she liked you or if she didn’t.
She and Tom were blessed to have 66 years together.
Sue is preceded in death by her father, mother, brothers, sisters, grandkids, aunts and uncles.
She has one remaining brother, Wain (Cheryl) Lefthand; her loving husband, Tom; her kids, Dacia (Mickey) Fisher, Ray (Sharon) Antiste, Cindy Charlo, Pam (Carlie) Antiste, Bonnie (Levi) Hewankorn, Joe (Tracy) Antiste, Mary Antiste, K’la (Abe) Birdrattler; her 23 grandchildren; her 24 great-grandchildren; and her three great great-grandchildren,
Susie will be missed by her family and her tri-city community and family from the Arlee area.
Due to Covid–19, private family services were held. Memories and condolences may be sent to the family at: www.lakefuneralhomeand cremation.com.
Arrangements are under the care of The Lake Funeral Home and Crematory.
