Frances G. Fairbanks, who rescued the Minneapolis American Indian Center (MAIC) from financial straits in the 1980s and became an unrelenting advocate for Indian causes for nearly 40 years, died in October at a nursing home in south Minneapolis. She was 88.

The cause was complications related to a stroke, relatives said.

Fairbanks, a member of the Red Lake Nation, was among the group that founded the American Indian Movement (AIM) in 1968, hoping to challenge what they saw as centuries of oppression and indifference by the U.S. government. She also led the MAIC through a tumultuous period in the 1980s, a period when similar centers in cities across the nation shut their doors amid cuts in federal funding.

"Frances was a giant in the Indian community here and one of our most respected elders," said Clyde Bellecourt, co-founder of AIM. "She was with us every step of the way and never gave up. Never."

Fairbanks grew up in poverty, the second of seven children on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. The family's home had a dirt floor and no electricity or running water. Fairbanks and her siblings had to carry buckets of water from a nearby well each morning to bathe. The family burned wood in a stove for heat and would huddle around a battery-operated radio for nighttime entertainment, her siblings recalled.

Her parents divorced when she was a teenager, leaving Fairbanks to shoulder many of the household responsibilities. "Fran was like a mom to all of us," said her brother, Charles Stately, 76, of Minneapolis. "She learned to be tough at a very young age."

That toughness helped Fairbanks survive a long and nearly fatal battle with tuberculosis. As a young mother in her early 20s, Fairbanks was sent to the Ah-Gwah-Ching Center, a former sanitarium in Walker, Minn., where she was a patient for nearly two years. Eventually, she insisted on returning to Red Lake, ignoring the doctors who warned that she might die if she left. "I remember Fran saying, 'If I'm going to die, then I'm going to die at home,' " her brother Charles said. "She wanted to be with her people."

Fairbanks moved to Minneapolis in the 1940s, working in a number of manual-labor jobs before becoming an employment counselor at the MAIC soon after it opened in 1974. She quickly became known for her straight-talking manner, hearty laugh and ability to make people around her feel empowered. When the MAIC was hit with a financial scandal in 1982, its board sought a steady hand to keep the organization from collapsing. They asked Fairbanks to step in as executive director.

She initially turned down the offer, fearing the center was too deep in debt to be saved. Days later, she changed her mind and began rebuilding public trust by admitting the center's mistakes to donors and engaging people in a discussion about the center's role, former co-workers said. Most donors appreciated her honesty and pledged to keep supporting the organization, recalled Bellecourt, a board member at the time.

From her small, windowless office on the second floor, Fairbanks eventually built a remarkable network of tribal leaders, community organizers and politicians who supported her projects. These included jobs for Indian youth, meals for poor seniors, and affordable housing for adults suffering from chronic alcohol abuse.

"Frances had a backbone of steel, and was an incredibly articulate voice for her community," said Peter McLaughlin, a Hennepin County commissioner.

Fairbanks retired in 2012 after suffering a stroke that left her partly paralyzed. She is survived by her three children, Francis White, Bruce White and Roxanne Flammond, and many grandchildren.