Here is the obituary from the Cortez Journal in Colorado that Susil referred to in her recent post.

Lucy Ben Sleepy

Funeral services for lifelong Hatch, Utah resident Lucy Ben Sleepy will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, March 8, at Ertel Memorial Chapel. Interment will follow at Cortez Cemetery.

Lucy was born on Oct. 10, 1927, at Navajo White Mesa, Utah and she passed away on Wednesday, March 3, 2010, at Southwest Memorial Hospital at the age of 82.

Lucy was a member of the Native American Church and the Methodist Church in Hatch. She was known as a Navajo traditionalist. Lucy enjoyed beading, weaving, camping, herding sheep, and cooking. She was a wonderful seamstress.

Surviving Lucy are her children, Hazel Blackhorse of Cortez, Daisy Thomas of Cortez, Luella Begay of Cortez, Bernice Eddie and husband, Thomas of Cortez, Alberta Sleepy and husband, Roy Begay of Hatch, Utah, Sandra Bennallie and husband, Davis of Montezuma Creek, Utah, Virgil Sleepy of Hatch, Utah, and Colonel Sleepy of Hatch, Utah; 22 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; and her sister, Amelia Begay of Montezuma Creek, Utah. Lucy was preceded in death by her parents; by her husband, Leroy Lee Sleepy; by her children, Clarence Ben, Glenna Sleepy, Arthur Sleepy, and Harrison Sleepy; and by one brother."



The Hatch, Utah referred to is my Aunt Laura's trading post near the Navajo Indian reservation in southwest Utah, just north of White Mesa. It is an area mostly untouched by our modern culture. For most of her life, and maybe all of it, Mrs. Sleepy would not have had electricity in her isolated home out in the desert. They don't buy generators, either, just make do with kerosene lamps. Telephones are unheard of out there, not even cell phones: my aunt has lived there for more than 60 years and she still doesn't have a phone. Many of the residents in that area drive to my uncle's trading post nearby to use the telephone. He charges them fifty cents for long distance. He should be paying them for the entertainment value.

I'm not sure what the business about Lucy Sleepy belonging to the Methodist Church in Hatch is because there isn't a Methodist Church even in the nearest real town of Blanding, and my Aunt Laura is not a church person, certainly not Methodist.

According to a website I found, Blanding has 9 (Nine) Mormon churches, one Assembly of God, and one Baptist Church. With a population of only 3300 people, that is a lot of Mormon churches. It makes me wonder if there is some system in the Mormon Church where people can rent a space and call it a church and get a tax write-off.

Perhaps she claimed to be a Methodist so the Mormons would leave her alone. Navajos are known to have a great sense of humor so maybe she got a big laugh out of claiming to be a Methodist. The Native American Church wouldn't be any protection from missionaries, it's the one with the peyote rituals.

Hovenweep National Monument near there.