Zeke McConnell
January 1, 1919 - February 4, 2007
Obituary
Zeke McConnell, 1/1/1919 to 2/4/2007
Born in the small town of Stilwell, Oklahoma, to full blood Cherokee mother, Josie Chuculate and Irishman Jessie McConnell, Zeke, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, grew up on a small farm in Bunch, OK. His mother passed away when he was five. The grandparents were unable to locate his father so the children were declared orphans and sent to Sequoia Indian School in Talequah, OK. He graduated from High School and earned a diploma from Bacone Junior College in 1941.
Zeke was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942. He was an Alamo Scout in the U.S. Army’s 6th Infantry. The Scout units gathered intelligence behind enemy lines in the Philippine Islands. After the war he was discharged at Fort Lewis, Washington. He took a job as a painter and began work at Cushman Indian Hospital where he met his wife to be, Mae Ladinne Duffy. They were married in 1946.
Zeke was an avid hunter, liked to fish and took the family on car camping vacations in some of the most beautiful parks and mountains in Washington and Oregon. He was the Scout Master for Troop 358 for several years and served as president of the local PTA at Crestview Elementary. He developed and performed archery exhibitions and traditional American Indian dance demonstrations for a variety of local groups and organizations, including Tyee High School. The McConnell tribe eventually grew to five children: Kathleen, Leslie, Joseph Brad, Denise and Tyler.
Zeke retired from the Seattle Center maintenance department in 1982. His life was filled with frequent visits to and from his five children; eight grandchildren and eventually three great grand children. He was full of vigor, loved to tell and hear jokes, made friends easily and respected people regardless of their age.
He passed peacefully from heart failure. He is survived by his wife Mae Chick McConnell, daughters: Kathi Henderson Jack, and Denise McConnell, and sons: Leslie McConnell Janet, Joseph DrowningBear, Tyler Running Deer Jen. A memorial service will be held at BONNEY-WATSON Washington Memorial, 16475 International Blvd., old Highway 99, SeaTac, WA 206 242-1787 on Saturday, March 3, at 3:00 pm.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family. Zeke cared enough to take time to visit our schools and children in his community.
I’ll miss him, his stories, his laugh & full face grin.
But every time my youngest grins, she grins just like her Grandpa, so I see him & hear him in her laughter too.
Keeping all of you in my heart, all the time, with much love.
I miss Grandpa Zeke. He was nice. I like his hugs. I love him. It makes me sad that he is gone. One time we colored together and it was fun! We played and played, it was lots of fun! He had a cool room.Beacause it had Indian feathers and Indian stuff. I have a picture of him.
With our love and sympathy,
Pat Freeman and DD Etchieson
church family.
We will sure miss our dear friend, Zeke. Especially our communication by mail where we always made reference to our “smoke signals”. Also,will never forget the great times we had together in New Hampshire and in Washington.
God bless his soul.
Elaine Jones, Sarah Kay’s aunt
I will miss my sweet Uncle Zeke. I have so many fond memories of him, the laughter he shared with my mother, his sister and I. He had such a sweet smile and the love that came from his heart filled my life. Rod thought he was a fine man too. He will be missed but we know he is in a wonderful place. We will have the joy of knowing we will see him again someday with our other love ones.
For a Uncle that I didn’t know very much, it seems like I’ve known him all my life. Say hello to mom when you see her in heaven uncle Zeke. God bless you….
Iam the daughter of Saundra White. My prayers and thoughts are with the family. I thought back when I was a child and remembered how Zeke always made the family laugh and smile. He was a joy to be around and I mostly remember how he lit up my mothers and Grandmothers face with laughter and love. God Bless you all.
God be with you all in this difficult time. My thoughts & prayers are with you all.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult time. With deepest sympany, Eli and Sally
I was in Troop 358 with Zeke as a boy. He was so much fun. I saw him often in my adult years. He ALWAYS had a smile. I have fond memories of him. Dianna & myself want to give our condolences to his son Les who I graduated with and all of Zekes family. Zeke ,you will be missed by many!!!!!!!!
I met Zeke several times when he attended our high school reunions in Tahlequah Ok.
He was in the Class of 1938 and I was in the Class of 1960 but our school experiences weren’t all that different. Many of us were orphans or had very little family so we sort of became a very large family while attending Sequoyah Indian School.
Zeke was like many of us; came to Sequoyah in grade school, grew up and graduated high school. We regard Sequoyah as our home.
At our annual reunion it’s like a family reunion when we get together with old schoolmates, even if we didn’t actually attend school at the same time.
Those of Zeke’s era are becoming fewer each year so we value those that are able to return each May for our alumni/family reunion.
We’ll add Zeke to the list of old timers that we’ll miss in the coming years.
Charles Cochran
Webmaster~Seq.Alum.Assoc.
http://www.geocities.com/ccoc33
This is the first I have heard of Mr. McConnell’s passing. He was an Alamo Scout with my father Sabas Asis. After he passed, he was gracious enough to phone to share a small story and offer his condolences.
I do the same here. All the best to the McConnell family.
Dennis Asis