June K. Lyman

On October 05, 3 days after 75 family and friends celebrated her 99th birthday, June Kremer Lyman glided gracefully into the Great Beyond, as her Irish mother would have said. June was born to Martin Edward and Susie Monahan Kremer on October 03, 1912, the year New Mexico and Arizona gained statehood. Her little town of Sykeston, North Dakota, and the Great Depression couldn’t contain her curiosity and her love of life. At age sixteen, she began college at St. Catherine University in St. Paul MN. She received her B. A. degree in history from North Dakota State University at Fargo. During summers while teaching in Sykeston, she commuted to New York City to obtain her M.A. Degree in Education from Columbia University. Always ready for the next adventure, she was drawn to an ad for a dormitory matron at Flandreau Indian School and then Pine Ridge Boarding School in SD. It was at Pine Ridge, while standing in a War Food Administration line, that she caught the eye of Stanly D. Lyman who was dispensing food rations. With her red hair and beaded blue moccasins, he thought she looked pretty good. They were married within six months. June and Stan, with their philosophy of public service and Masters degrees made a good team at farming, teaching, and, eventually, within the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Stan’s career in the BIA took them and their two children from the smallest rural communities and reservations to the largest cities: they worked on the Sioux and Assiniboine at Poplar, MT; Uintah and Ouray at Ft. Duchesne, UT; Pine Ridge at Pine Ridge, SD., and in the cities of Denver and Chicago. Each time, June bloomed where she was planted, quickly obtaining jobs as a teacher or a guidance counselor in the local school system. As a people builder, twice her students won Freedom Foundation awards. In Denver, in 1955, June entered a Denver Post essay contest sponsored by Gart Bros. Sporting Goods Co. For her creative writing efforts, she won $50 worth of fishing tackle. While on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, she and a colleague collected oral histories of tribal elders. With direction from Floyd O’Neil, Ph.D. of the University of Utah Western History Center the book, Ute History became the first Indian history book an 8th grader could read of his tribal history as told by tribal elders. Its publication made history marketable. June continued to work with the Western History Center to develop, edit, and research a dozen other histories of Western tribes. While assigned to Pine Ridge Reservation for the third time, history placed Stan and June at the focal point of the American Indian Movement’s 91-day occupation of Wounded Knee. Daily Stan dictated his observations of the conflict. June would later publish the transcription of his account, Wounded Knee 1973. While working in the Area Office in Phoenix, AZ, Stan gathered together a team of professionals to address Indian water, land, and treaty rights. June worked as a guidance counselor in the Salt River Indian Community. When Stan died in 1979, June continued to seek new adventures attending 14 Elder Hostel programs and traveling to visit family and friends. Since 1985, as a bed rock member of the Monday Night Ladies, June has been meeting bi-weekly with neighborhood women to exchange friendship and ideas. The group continues to be the ‘glue’ of the neighborhood. June Lyman, teacher, guidance counselor, author, adventurer, friend to all, and Mother to many is survived by her daughter, Mary Lee Madison of Glendale, AZ; her son and daughter-in-law Martin Edward and Candice Lyman of Park City, UT; grandchildren Andrew Grat, Matthew Grat of Las Vegas, Kristen Espinoza (Tony), and Karen McDaniel (Erick) of Maui, HI, Craig Von Zonnefeld of Parker, CO; great grandchildren Christopher Bernatis of Boulder, CO, Madison Grat of Orlando, FL, Jessie and Jamie Espinoza of Lehi, UT, and Hunter Von Zonnefeld of Parker, CO . Wendy Warne and Mary Prochaska were as good as daughters. June’s life was enhanced and passing eased by Maggie Mears, friend and Hospice M.D. The Affinity Hospice of Life Team could be counted on for exquisite care and compassion. A Mass for the Dead will be held at St. Raphael’s Church of Glendale, AZ. At a private internment, June will be laid to rest next to Stan at Rest Haven Cemetery in Glendale, AZ. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in June’s name to the J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections at the University of Utah (295 S. 1500 E. Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0860 -- (801) 581-8558).