Obituary: Stephanie Rock, champion 'fancy shawl' dancer, was mother to many

Stephanie Rock was just a tyke — the seventh of 13 kids — when she first learned the "fancy shawl" dance from her mother near the White Earth Reservation in Ponsford, Minn.

She went on to win crowns around the country for her eagle-like dips and twirls. A jokester who loved a good laugh, she proudly performed at Indian celebrations in California, Washington, the Dakotas and Minnesota for decades.

Rock, whose Ojibwe name was Waabigwan (flower), died Nov. 20 at age 52, after suffering a heart attack.

"She was a lady who was a caretaker, a good sister and a very good mother. She taught me well," said her daughter Hope LaDuke. "She was a very good peacemaker within the community."

While Rock raised daughters Hope, Leslie, Roberta and Candace and two granddaughters, she gave refuge to any child who needed a home, a little pot roast, some love and fry bread.

"There were a lot of other children that she brought up," said Rock's brother William. "If the kids had no place to stay, they would show up and go and stay with my sister. She didn't mind. That was the way she was."

Her sister Paulette Rock said Stephanie took in maybe 40 kids. "They'd stay for three months or a year before going back to their parents. That's how we were raised. If someone comes to visit you, you feed them. You take care of them. That is what she did."

"She was a pretty decent lady," said Larry Macil, a worker at the Little Earth of United Tribes complex where Rock shared a townhouse with William, granddaughters Elena and Janet Rock and great-granddaughter Julissa. "She was kind of the rock, the matriarch lady of all the Rocks."

The family dashed from across the country to honor Rock during a wake that started Nov. 22 at the Little Earth gym. For three days and nights, a flame burned, drums were beaten and she was never left alone "so her spirit would never be lonely until it found its way to the spirit world," Macil said. Rock was buried Nov. 24, her 53rd birthday.

"I will miss her a lot. She was my baby sister," said William.

When she was a child, her parents moved the family to south Minneapolis. Rock was bused to one of the first Indian charter schools in the Twin Cities that emphasized academics, Indian culture, art and language.

At the Red School House in St. Paul she improved her Ojibwe, perfected her dancing and learned to love reading, math and the intricate beadwork she used to make costumes for decades.

Rock found temporary jobs with her siblings in factories in Bloomington, Maple Grove and at the airport where she spent years packaging airline meals for passengers.

Between work and kids, Rock found time for fun. She'd whisk her mother or sisters to their favorite steak place on Franklin Avenue. Or, she'd pester her siblings to play cards, do puzzles or hit the casinos for bingo night.

She'd light up a Newport 100 and settle in for some laughs. "We would go have fun over there all the time," said Paulette. "Me and her stuck together like glue. We brought up our kids together. We lived together for 10 years. It's so hard. We are real close."

Rock is survived by four daughters, nine grandchildren, one great-granddaughter and eight surviving siblings.