Faye Lee Thomas

Faye Lee Thomas, “Wambdi Taninyan Eya Winyan” (Outspoken Eagle Woman) 43 of Fort Totten, ND passed away on Thursday, January 10, 2019 at CHI, St. Alexius Health, Devils Lake Hospital. 

The Wake for Faye will begin at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 16, 2019 at the Crow Hill Recreation Center, rural Fort Totten with a Prayer Service at 8:00 p.m. The procession to Crow Hill will leave at 4:00 p.m. Wednesday from City Plaza. 

Funeral Services for Faye will be held on Thursday, January 17, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. also at the Crow Hill Recreation Center. Faye will be laid to rest in St. Jerome’s Cemetery, rural Fort Totten in the spring of 2019.

Faye Lee Thomas was born on December 29, 19785 at Devils Lake, ND to Richard Thomas and Sharon Ann Lohnes-Thomas. The family made their home in Crow Hill until her sister Kari died then the moved to Fort Kipp, Montana where she grew up and attended school.  Growing up in Fort Kipp she got close with her cousins Eric and Bernard BuckElk where she talked about and told good stories. She loved to play dress-up and Barbies.  The family took many trips to all kinds of places, the Grand Canyon, Arizona and the Black Hills.

As time went by her parents grew apart and divorced, then she and her siblings came to live with the grandparents Boke and Winnie in Crow Hill. There she learned how to make fry bread from her Aunt Bubbles.

When Faye was 13, she came to live with her Mom in St. Michael. She attended Devils Lake High School, went to a summer youth program, UpWard Bound and met life-long friends.  Her senior year was at Flandreau, South Dakota and she was a happy mother-to-be.  She moved to Colorado Springs and gave birth to Skye.  She became very ill with pancreatitis, was hospitalized for six months and came back to live in St. Michael. Faye felt healthy enough to go to Job Corps in Minot in 1997.  She earned her GED and was receiving training in Medical Terminology.  After leaving Job Corps she attended Candkeska Cikana Community College and graduated with a degree in Hotel/Motel Management and also an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts. 

While in college, she met Stephen, they made their home in Devils Lake and started a family, Kiara and Xander. The family moved to Grand Forks and she started college at UND.  Due to pregnancy and other health issues, she had to leave school.  She returned to the Spirit Lake Nation and made Fort Totten her home until her death. 

Just like her childhood days, Faye loved to have her girls dress up, and twirl around in their new frilly dresses. She was so proud of Kiara who was a 1^st Runner Up in a local beauty pageant.  She deeply loved her family and all those she watched, cared for and kept. 

Faye was a loving, kind and caring wife, mom, grandma, sister, aunt, cousin and dear friend. She will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her.

Faye is survived by her common-law-husband of 20 plus years, Stephen Brown; children Skye Thomas, Kiara Brown, Xander Thomas, Stephen Brown II, Patience Brown and her only granddaughter Braelynn Brown; sisters Joni Thomas, Denise (Floyd) Bjergaard and Norma Littleghost; dad Richard Thomas; adopted sisters Sheila Littleghost, Cathy Redroad and Tiffany Foss; adopted brothers Eric and Bernard BuckElk; adopted mom Catalina Herman; many nieces, nephews and cousins.

She was preceded in death by infant daughter Honey Lee Brown; mother Sharon Ann Lohnes-Thomas; grandparents Winifred and Richard Thomas; uncles Milton, Timothy and Mike Thomas; aunts Cheryl Keo and Janice Belgarde; cousins Donald (SunDuck) Belgarde Jr.; adopted brother Lenny RedTomahawk; special friend Laura Smith and other close relatives and friends.

Active Pallbearers: Todd Belgarde, Kelly Brown, Chad Keo, Jeff Azrue, Clint Keo, Skye Thomas and Xander Thomas. Honorary Bearers: Bernard BuckElk, Eric BuckElk, Brenda Belgarde, Sheila and Todd Belgarde, Ashely Brown, Austin Herman, Trisha Adams, Jamie Belgarde, Tioga WhiteTail, Cathy Redroad, Arrow GreyBear, Rosanne Redroad, Jodi White, Catalina Herman and family, Kelly Brown and family, Cora Whiteman and family, Dave Lohnes, Ruth Lohnes, Pam Lohnes, Dana Lohnes, Dolly Azure and family, Jeannie Cavanaugh and family, Lois and Keith Leben, Tiffany Foss and family, Debbie Adams, Clarence Houle, Michelle Scheffel, Willy Jo Longie, Teresa (Tree) Cavanaugh, all Upward Friends. If we left anybody out, it was not intentional.