NO RUNNER, Frances

NO RUNNER

FRANCES NO RUNNER “Kaiistaohkomi” (Together the Thunders Roared) passed peacefully on February 23, 2018, after 75 years of service to the Creator and Family. She is joyously home now. She was born to Bob and Helen (Oka) No Runner on March 28, 1942, the sixth of seven children. She lived out her life in Old Agency on the Blood Reserve. She attended St. Paul’s Anglican Residential School. Frances was an introspective and intelligent person who loved school and had aspirations for higher learning, however circumstances at the time limited native women to gain higher education. Throughout life she kept herself well-versed and informed.

Lifelong duty to family became her calling, and in her quiet, unassuming nature she lived each day with purpose. After her mother’s passing, she cared many, many years for her father until he passed at the age of 97. Kaiistaohkomi takes with her the vast knowledge given to her by her loving father. Frances kept a meticulous home for her brother Donald through his later years. She was affectionately known only as “Auntie” by her many nieces and nephews spanning four generations. She addressed family only by their traditional names and often retold us how our names came to be. Throughout her lifetime, she was a servant to her many cats and dogs. Shortly before her passing, her dog Lexi got stomped by a deer, and Auntie lovingly restored her dog through its ordeal.

Kaiistaohkomi leaves behind her younger sister Della, who together shared the last 26 years of life. She leaves her nieces and the nephews who called her “The P.I.” and who sometimes weren’t always in her good books! She enthralled us with her knowledge of long ago legends among other things. Frances was a very private person but her love shone through her eyes and was felt by her gently touch and heard by her soft, soft voice. She was a woman of strong faith and would be heard loudly singing her hymns (when she was up to something!)

She will be missed by her adopted sisters, Marina No Runner, Bella Mistaken Chief, Gloria Day Chief and Fanny Weasel Fat. Auntie will be forever missed by her nieces Jennifer, Charlotte, Joanne, Cindy, Delphine, Sherry and Cheryl and her nephews Tom, Alvin, Calvin, Delvin, Clayton and Harley.

She was predeceased by her parents Bob and Helen; her brothers Lawrence and Donald; her sisters Nancy, Dorothy and Philomena; her nephews Darrell, Robert, Roddy, Dugan; her nieces Tawny-Jo, Morning Star and Harley Nova; her brothers-in-law Horace Red Crow and Gilbert Little Bear; her nephew Darwin Rusty Healy; her aunts Annie Day Chief, Betty Healy, Beatrice Weasel Fat and Edith Mills, and her uncles Steve Oka, Tom Oka and Mike Oka (WWII Veteran).

A Funeral Service will be held at ST. PAUL’S ANGLICAN CHURCH, Cardston, AB on Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 1:00 P.M. with Reverend Michael Tipper, officiating. Interment will follow in the One Spot, Old Agency Cemetery.

To send a condolence, please visit www.cornerstonefuneralhome.com