BROKESHOULDER, Harrell Gene

Arizona Daily Sun, Flagstaff, Arizona Wednesday, February 17, 2010 Harrell Gene Brokeshoulder, 76, formerly of Flagstaff, died Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010, in Shawnee, Okla. Mr. Brokeshoulder was born Jan. 15, 1934. He loved to golf and participated in many amateur golf activities in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, California and Canada. He had a 5 handicap, and also entered into many "A-Flights and Championship flights" and recorded games of 62 or better consistently. In 1975, he won first place in his Championship Flight Division in the Can-Am Native American Tourney in Vancouver, B.C. In 1979, he won the Phoenix Native American Golf Championship besting nearly 170 competitors. Mr. Brokeshoulder was very proud of his brothers and sisters, who are living in many places in the United States, and was proud of their family background as descendants of the great Shawnee warrior Tecumseh. The family is Absentee Shawnee and Choctaw Tribes of Oklahoma. In 1953-54, Mr. Brokeshoulder attended Haskell Indian School in Lawrence, Kan., and served in the Kansas National Guard while at this school. At Haskell, he made many friends and met his future wife, Joan (Maktima). In 1958, he moved to Flagstaff, where he worked as a dorm attendant and instructional aide at Flagstaff Boarding Schools from 1960 to 1974. He later transferred to Phoenix Indian Boarding School in 1974 and worked there for 18 years until he accepted early retirement in 1988. He had a great life and enjoyed attending many powwows in Arizona and Oklahoma. He was an avid Oklahoma University Sooners fan and truly enjoyed the game of football. He had a strong sense of Oklahoma Native pride and encouraged many youth to seek ways to enhance their Native self-identity and self-esteem. Mr. Brokeshoulder is survived by his only son, Nick (Sharon) Brokeshoulder of Gallup, N.M.; three grandchildren; and siblings Loretta Schwarz, Wynona Lumpmouth, Glenda Johnson, Clifton Brokeshoulder, Helen Arns, Katrina Brokeshoulder, Harry Brokeshoulder, Rita Brokeshoulder and Eddie Brokeshoulder. He was preceded in death by his wife, Joan (Maktima) Brokeshoulder; and parents Clifton and Minnie (Chisholm) Brokeshoulder. Funeral services will be Thursday, at 10 a.m., at Greer Mortuary, in Winslow.