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Toni Night Eagle Martinez
December 12, 1950-February 14, 1999
Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free. I'm following the path God has laid you see. I took his hand when I heard his call, I turned my back and left it all.
I could not stay another day, to laugh, to love, to work, to play. Tasks left undone must stay that way. I found the peace at the close of the day.
If my parting has left a void, then fill it with remembered joys... A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss, yes, these things I too will miss.
Be not burdened with times of sorrow, I wish you the sunshine of tommorow. My life's been full, I savored much, good friends, good times, a loved one's touch.
Perhaps my time seemed all to brief... Don't lengthen it now with undue grief. Lift up your hearts, and peace to thee, God wanted me, he set me free.
Toni Martinez is my spirit sister.
She was murdered in her sleep on Valentine's Day, 1999 by an unknown assailant.
She was always ready to laugh at herself, or the world around her, and the first one to try something new, and drag you along for the ride.
She was one of those people that either she did not like you, or she did, and she was very very blunt.
I can remember how proud she was when her daughter, Jess, won her first powwow contest, and how she would put in so many many hours on powwow regailia, that may not even have been for herself. She did not care, she was happy to have a project to work on!
She is one of the ones who thought of nicknaming me Spot... I carry that name still, much to my chagrin.
Always outraegous, always laughing, and always happy.
It seemed like she always had a project to work on, I do not think that she knew how to sit still!
I loved to see the exictement on her face as she would describe her latest project to me...
Every memory I have of Tones is a happy one, the time at the Vandailia MO Powwow she put a sign on her tent that said "Wanna tipi Hop?" (she was serious) or the time she stuffed left over food down her sink after doing the dishes, claiming that there was a garbage disposal, (there was not, our sister Bekki Whitefeather told me that story), the time the pickup we were taking to Missouri for an educational program that we were participating in caught on fire, and watching her dancing in her excitement to put it out, checking out the male dancer's butts at a powwow with our sister Bekki Whitefeather, dancing around the arena trying to keep a straight face, again with Bekki....
So many happy memories...
My faveorite is the time that we (Toni, Bekki Whitefeather, and I) went to the Civil War Ball at the re enactment of the Battle of Pea Ridge in Keokuk, IA, and had such a hard time keeping a straight face while we had our pictures taken, that poor man was so exasperated by the time we managed to keep a straight face for more than a second at a time...
She had a vocabulary that could make a sailor blush, and a smile that lit up the room.
She left behind a son, and a daughter, who are the very image of their mother...
To us, her sisters, she was an angel with the mouth of a mountain man, and a bundle of contradictions, all of them somehow complimenting each other.
Then, she was gone...
She was taken too soon, she had a lot more living to do.
I think Tunkasila needed some Coyote medicine, and took our Tones.
I miss you, Tones.... do me a favor and have a good Indian joke ready, and save me good spot in the powwow arena, ok?
Fly with the Eagles, our namesakes, and whisper my name with love...
Toksa Mite Cuway, I miss you...
I will add more to this page as I can, the emotions and grief are still very close to the surface...
Mitakuye Oyasin...
