Private graveside services for 73-year old Donovan Shangreaux are Friday, August 7, 2020 at 3:00 PM at the Shangreaux Family Cemetery in the No Flesh Community of Kyle, SD, with lay minister Anthony Wounded Head officiating.
A view service will precede the graveside service from 11-2:00 on Friday at the Sioux Funeral Home in Pine Ridge, SD.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Oglala Lakota Veteran’s Association (Contact Oglala Sioux Tribal Veteran Services on FaceBook) or a charity of your own choosing.
Donovan Laverne Shangreaux was born July 17, 1947 in Scottsbluff, NE to Richard Baptiste Shangreaux and Margaret Blue Bird and made his journey to the Spirit World on July 29, 2020.
He graduated from St. Frances Catholic School and earned a drafting certificate from ITC, San Francisco, CA before being called to serve in Vietnam in 1969. As a combat medic he participated in more than 25 aerial missions between Nov 3 and Dec 22, 1969.
Donovan was awarded the Air Medal for determination, professionalism and devotion to duty, the bronze star for heroic actions on Dec 9, 1969, and the Purple Heart in the battle of Boi Loi Wood on Dec 22, 1969, when he was wounded in action and lost his right arm. Many years later, he was presented with the Combat Medic Badge at an annual reunion of his old unit, Alpha Company.
Upon returning home from Vietnam, Donovan earned an AA degree in Mining Technology, a Bachelor’s degree from Black Hills State University in Spearfish, SD and an MBA from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, SD. In the years that followed he held a variety of positions on and off the reservation.
Donovan was preceded in death by his parents, Richard Baptiste Shangreaux and Margaret Blue Bird; brothers, Pete, Bill, Robert, Tony and Ronnie Shangreaux; sister, Lucille Shangreaux; infant daughter, Margaret Shangreaux; and grandparents, Tom Blue Bird, Nancy Red Kettle, Pete Shangreaux and Lucy Janis.
Donovan is survived by his son, Antonio Shangreaux & his wife Kelly; step-son, Lance Wahokiza; daughter, Keshena One Star; companion, Rhonda Eagle Bear; three brothers, Mike, Corbin and Baptiste, Jr.; two sisters, Wildine Rice and Marlyce Ideris; and numerous grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins.
Arrangements entrusted with Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge, SD