Katherine Marie Blackthunder Dorsch
Wambdi Cankuwin “Eagle Road Woman”, 67, of Sheridan, WY entered the spirit world on Sunday, January 30, 2011, in Memorial Hospital of Sheridan County.

Katherine Marie was born on June 18, 1943 to Elijah and Thelma (Danforth) Blackthunder in Waubay, S.D. She would later tease her siblings saying “mom and dad really wanted me because they paid for me”. She grew up in Ortley, S.D. and spent many summers in Oneida, WI where she and her siblings would earn money picking cherries and visiting her Oneida relatives. She attended schools in Sisseton and Waubay, SD and graduated from Flandreau Indian School. After High School she was married to the late Francis LaCroix and together they had a son Michael Francis and a daughter Michele Renee. Katherine later met and married Phillip Dorsch and together they had a daughter Phyllis and a son Michael Richard Blackthunder. Katherine and her family resided in Sheridan, Wyoming for the past 30 years. Katherine received her Bachelors of Arts and Sciences in Liberal Studies from the University of South Dakota in 1984. She did her basic nurses training at Sheridan College and later went on to earn her Bachelors of Science degree in Nursing from the South Dakota State University where she was also a (sorority member). She worked as an RN for many years at the Sheridan VA Medical Center and was also a nursing instructor at Sheridan College, and also at the Sisseton-Wahpeton Community College, Agency Village, South Dakota.

Katherine was a great cook and enjoyed cooking meals for family gatherings. Her home was always open to all. She loved to hunt deer, moose, elk, antelope and wild turnips. In her younger years she was a very talented artist doing beadwork and native crafts.

She is preceded in death by her father, mother, brothers Edward, James “Jimmie”, and sister Edna.
She is survived by her husband Phillip; sons Michael & Michael Richard Blackthunder; daughters Michele and Phyllis; siblings Mary, Effie, Everette and Edmund; adopted brother Joe LaForge; numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

Katherine was a very strong, proud, honorable and dignified woman. And the leader and role model for her family. There wasn’t any problem she couldn’t solve. She will be loved and missed dearly.

Funeral service will be 1:00pm on Wednesday (Feb. 2nd) from Champion Ferries Funeral Home with the Rev. Kevin Jones officiating. Interment will be in Sisseton, S. Dakota, at the traditional burial ground. Arrangements are with Champion Ferries Funeral Home.

Memorials may benefit the Katherine Dorsch Memorial Fund, 7 Country Estates Dr., Sheridan, WY 82801.

The family would like to express their deepest appreciation to the staff of the ICU at Sheridan Memorial Hospital.

Mitakuye Oyasin “We are all related”

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