May 17, 2024 –
Calvin Morris Masqua
February 7, 1949 – May 17, 2024
Calvin Morris Masqua, 75, of Lawrence, Kansas, passed away at his home, in Lawrence, Kansas on Friday, May 17, 2024. He was born on February 7, 1949 in Horton, Kansas. Nanimnukskuk, Big Thunder was the eighth of twelve children born to Julia Jessepe Green. After graduating from Chilocco Indian School he joined the Army at age 18. He completed two consecutive combat tours in Vietnam of the May 173rd Infantry. He continued to fight for native rights with his involvement in A.I.M. the American Indian Movement. He was at the 1972 B.I.A. Takeover in Washington D.C. and at the Wounded
Knee Occupation in 1973. He was instrumental in the spread of the Native American Church to tribes of the Pacific Northwest. He worked for many years as a marine pipefitter in the shipyards of Seattle. He made lifelong friends and relatives all over Indian Country. He is survived by his son, Harlan Madwah Masqua, his wife, Sandra Broken Leg-Masqua, two sisters, Bernadette Thomas and Jeanette Little Sun and numerous relatives, brothers, sisters, stepdaughters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren and Hobbes his beloved dog.
Sunrise February 7, 1949 – Sunset May 17, 2024
Native American Church Services were held on Sunday, May 19, 2024 at Wayne Tab Jessepe’s Home on the Kickapoo Reservation and at the Brown County Chapter Church House on May 19, 2024. Burial was at the Swah-Kah-Ah Cemetery on the Kickapoo Reservation on Monday, May 20, 2024.
(Courtesy of Dishon-Maple-Chaney Mortuary)