Marlene Youpee

Marlene Virginia Rose Youpee, Wicanhpi To Wi (Blue Star Woman), 33, died Sept. 4, 2023, in her home in Poplar.

Also known as Marz by her close friends and family on the Fort Peck Reservation as well as Rocky Boy Reservation, she was born Aug. 27, 1990, to Cheryl Sutherland and Bernard Noel Youpee. She was gifted her paternal grandmother Melvene Spotted Bird’s Dakota name.

She attended Poplar Elementary School for several years, then attended elementary and junior high in Brockton. She moved to Rocky Boy to live with her mother. She went to the Box Elder High School, where she placed first in the annual spelling bee. Her junior year, she went to the Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Ore., until her hot temper got her sent back to Brockton to live with her father. In Brockton, she became a cheerleader and gave away several star quilts during tournament time. She didn’t graduate high school, but did get her G.E.D. in 2008. She continued her education at the Stone Child College for several semesters.

In 2008, her first son, Vincent, was born. In 2010, her second son, Joedaus, was born. In 2011, she was shot in the leg so she moved back to Poplar from Rocky Boy with her sister. After she healed, she became a fry cook at B& S laundry for about a year. She worked as a cashier at Tribal Express until moving to the casino in Tribal Express. She loved working in the casino. She moved to Brockton for a couple years and had her baby Kilijah Junior in 2018.

She loved to watch cooking shows and loved to cook up for family. She also liked her haunted spooky makeup tutorials. When traveling to watch her children dance powwows or to watch her sons play football, she was always sitting in the back to snuggle and play with them. When she did go on the powwow trail with her sister, she knew what needed to be done. She went to Standing Rock to represent both her tribes — Fort Peck and Rocky Boy — during the standoff, “No DAPL.”

She was baptized in Fort Kipp at the Presbyterian church. Growing up in Brockton,

she would attend the Baptist church on Sundays. Living in Rocky Boy, she attended the Assembly of God church. She would attend her family’s sundance every year in Brockton “Tatanka Yamni” Three Buffalo. At the end of her short lived life, she was attending Pastor Jay Cumming’s church west of Poplar, the Assembly of God.

She was preceded in death by her baby son, Andre Dean; and brother, Richard “Dicky Bob” Brown.

She is survived by her mother; children, Vincent Youpee, Joedaus Small and Kilijah Good Soldier Jr.; adopted sons, Caden Bear, David Parker and Aaron Savior- Jackson; nephew who she helped raise, Logan Cloud; siblings, Terrell Sutherland, Seneca Sutherland, Cale Martell, Brandon Martell, Britney Cloud, Edmund Youpee, Zachary Brown Jewell Youpee; two grandchildren, Ravonnie Harris and Kailoe Red Thunder; grandmothers, Jewel Hanna, Doris Spotted Bird, Gloria Chopper, Delilah Wakan, Kate Youpee, Jaime Youpee Sharon (Wilson) Roberts, Doris “Ducky” Bird and Juanita (Doug) Youngman.

Funeral services were held Tuesday, Sept. 12, at the Poplar Cultural Center. Interment was at the Fort Kipp Cemetery. Clayton Stevenson Memorial Chapel was entrusted with the arrangements.