Michael Dennis Toineeta

Michael Dennis Toineeta; born to Loney (Cherokee) and Mable (Alley) (Otoe-Missouria) Toineeta on December 2, 1936 at the Indian School in Cherokee, North Carolina where his mom was a Matron.  Mike started out life big; at birth he weighed 12 pounds and had two teeth. Mike's dad Loney's family had lived in Cherokee for many centuries and still lives there.  When the white man gathered up the Indians to force them on the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. Their family went high into the hills of North Carolina to avoid being forced to leave "Their Land".  They stayed there many years surviving on the land.  There are still many Toineeta's living there today. His mom Mable Alley is known to some of you and has many relatives here through the Alley's and the Childs. As mentioned before Mike was born at the Indian School in Cherokee where his mom was the Matron of the "Little" boys dorm.  He spent the first years of his childhood living happily with his parents and playing with the other Indian children. As a toddler he would set-in on the classes his mother was teaching. He must have been paying attention because when he started school he was so advanced they started him in Second Grade as they said he already knew more than anything they could teach him in first grade.  He continued to be a good student and had beautiful cursive hand writing, something his mother insisted on. Unfortunately when Mike was about 8 years old his father died suddenly and shortly thereafter they found out that his grandmother Nannie Childs (Otoe-Missouria) had passed away in Oklahoma.  His Mother decided it was time for her to go back to Oklahoma and take care of her dad William S. Alley (Ioway).  So she packed up all their belongings and they took the train back to Oklahoma to the farm near Ponca City. The farm where they lived was isolated and had no electricity but that didn't seem to matter to them.  They had good life and survived on little. Although in theory Mable came back to take care of Mr. Alley; in truth William Alley took care of them.  He took his role as the Elder and Grampa very seriously and taught his you grandson how to survive, fish, hunt, ride a horse, to respect nature, people and his heritage.  He took him out on a snowy day to rabbit hole and showed him how to take and lay burrs all around the rabbit's hole.  Then move away from the hole and wait quietly for the rabbit to exit; when the rabbit came out and stepped on the burrs he couldn't move and they just reached out and grabbed him.  They had supper for that night.William Alley showed with action how to treat people also.  Every year he would plant a large crop of sweet corn; with horse and plow.  When it ripened he would pick it, shucked it and then let it dry on large canvas.  Them he would let all of the neighbors come over and get all they needed to last them through the winter. William Alley was also very active with the Indian community and always there to lend a hand.  Whether it was setting up for a Pow-wow or helping someone in need. Young Mike thrived on the farm grew to be a tall (6'6") young man who all of the farmers wanted him to work for them during the summer. Mike had a true love of any kind of animal; there could be a wild dog that would bite anyone else but it would come up to Mike and want petted.  Mike seemed to have real connection with dogs; he said he could talk to them. Mike attended and graduated from Morrison High School where he was a star basketball player.  They still have pictures of some of his basketball feats in their new gym.  Back then it was almost unheard of to have someone that tall in high school. He got a basketball scholarship to Pan Handle A & M and was so proud to have made the starting five his freshman year.  Talk about a coincident; his coach at Panhandle A & M was Evans Ray Satepauhoodle, Evans Ray's daughter, Angela, ending up marrying Mike's son, Lance. After Mike left college him and two of his childhood Indian friend, Merle Hurst, James (Junior) DeRoin and him joined the Marines together.  They were so proud to be both Indians and Marines! Mike spent most of his adult life in the moving and storage business as you can imagine with his size and strength he was really good at his job.  Although he always referred to Oklahoma as Home; he had been living in Colorado for many years.  He said he came up there one time and really liked the climate and decided to stay.  That is where he met his wife Melody and that is where he peacefully passed away in his home on February 14th, 2017. Mike is survived by his son Lance Toineeta of Hominy, Lance's wife Angela and their two children Michael and Alexandria.  His loving wife Melody Toineeta, his step children Howard Wright, Hope Wright, Heather Britton, Son-in-law Scott Jacobson, granddaughter inlaw Jamie Buntin-Roberts, grandchildren Leighlah and Mihya, Audrey and Zane Jacobson, Tanith Britton, and William, Andrew and Jonathan Wright.