Michael McKenzie Rowe, 71, died July 11, 2020, while traveling from his home in Phoenix, Ariz., to his cabin in Alaska.
He was an enrolled member of the Red Bottom band of Assiniboine Indians of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes. His Indian name was Shunk Togega Tehanduwa, Wolf Far Away, given to him by his spiritual mentor, Kenneth O. Ryan (Tashunka Saba).
He was born on March 4, 1949, in Glasgow to Leone Frances (Barney) Rowe and Herbert Enoch Rowe. He graduated from Glasgow High School in 1967 and joined the Marines. He was a combat veteran of the war in Vietnam where he served in an infantry battalion based near DaNang.
After his service, he studied accounting at University of Montana in Missoula, ultimately completing a career with and retiring from the Indian Health Service as a contracts administrator. He was posted in Alaska for many years.
He is survived by his brother, Danny Rowe (Duwa Togahe) of Bellingham, Wash.; sister, Suzanne Hess (Wiospuna) of Pine Grove, Pa.; son, Kenneth Rowe of Billings; daughter, Deanna Schumacher of Aberdeen, S.D.; two grandchildren; and by his close friend, Peggy Cunningham of Phoenix.
The family will hold a gathering at the Greenwood Cemetery in Wolf Point on July 8 at 3 p.m. in the Veterans Circle.
