It is with great sadness and an irrevocable sense of loss that we report that the Native Memory Project has lost one of its founding board members and key consultants; Grant Bulltail passed away on October 1, 2020 from the Covid virus, in the Billings Medical Clinic in Montana. We have attached the obituary written by Dr. Timothy McCleary, his friend and colleague from Little Big Horn College.
Grant worked closely with Gary Wortman, John Mionczynski and Sharon Kahin over this last decade, recording stories of battles at sites such as the well-known ones at the Rosebud and Little Big Horn, and more obscure ones few outside the Crow community would have even heard of. Many of Grant’s stories took place in the Greater Yellowstone Region. Others, like the Battle of Rainy Buttes in North Dakota, where the Crow killed Sitting Bull’s father, took Grant and his colleagues farther afield.
In addition to stories of battle sites, Grant readily shared knowledge of his people’s edible and medicinal plants. Also, of the Crow Creation Story – in both Crow and English. Then there was the explanation of how the young warrior Bishish fasted in the Tetons—called by the Crow “Bishish’s Father”. Upon returning from his fast, Bishish and his comrade, Carries The Marrow Bone in His Mouth, traveled through Jackson Hole, starting out on a seven year journey to bring back the Crow’s first horses from far away Mexico.
Add to this coyote stories, stories about Old Red Woman, and stories about how the Crow learned to kill dinosaurs – even their dinosaur lullabies (!) – and you get a sense of the incredible breadth of Grant’s repertoire. As one of his colleagues said of his passing, “When Grant died, an entire library died with him.”
It was an honor to have known and worked with Grant: his generosity of spirit, gentle sense of humor and total commitment to saving and passing on these stories for the benefit of future generations were an inspiration to all who were privileged to know him.
Sharon Kahin
President Native Memory Project
10/5/2020
