Everlasting Sky

by

Craig Wiese

The plantive notes of an eerie and solemn Chippewa mourning chant drifted through the air and filled it with serene atmosphere. Gifts were brought and bread was shared with the indians who took and ate it. They shared it with the spirit of John KaKa Gesick as he leaves on his journey to the happy hunting grounds. Indians from all over the state sat in reverence as they paid their final respects to a great person.

When the traditional Indian ceremony was completed then the white man paid his respects to John with song and preaching.

John KaKa Gesick was borne to Highland Park Indian Cemetery by his Indian and white friends alike. He was laid to rest along side his brother Naymaypock. His head to the customary north. And, as Indian way has it, a small house was constructed over the grave to protect it from the weather.

John KaKa Gesick, ancient Chippewa medicine man died early Friday morning December 6, 1968, at the grand old age of 124 years. He had lived in Warroad all his life and for the past six years had been a resident of the Warroad Nursing Home.

John told his close friends that he was going to die. In the fall of 1968 he told his family he was going to the happy hunting grounds in the winter. And John's premonition was right. The people in the nursing home heard him chanting songs of his death three days before his death.

John KaKa Gesick is survived by a daughter Mary, three grandsons: George Angus, Albert Angus, Robert KaKa Gesick, fourteen great grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren.

John was born in a teepee on the shores of Lake of the Woods to Chief Ahya-Sha-Wash and May-Muska-Washie. Of his own birth he has said, "It was sometime after the ice had gone out of Lake of the Woods and at a time the geese were beginning to return from passing their winter in a warmer clime." He was one of eight childern and the last of his generation. The exact day or month of his birth was not known but in 1964 the Warroad Village Fathers believing that everyone should have a birthday, set aside May 14, 1844, as his official birthdate.

John could clearly remember places, portages, battles and events. For instance, he could remember when President Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address and he thought he was about sixteen at the time.

In August of 1905 he was granted a piece of land of 102 acres on the south shore of Lake of the Woods. The deed was signed by President Teddy Roosevelt. On this land he lived and operated his trap line up to the age of 112 years. The land is stiil in his name and is used by one of his grandsons when he is in Warroad.

John was a familiar sight riding his horse up and down the streets selling moose meat. When his horse gave up he continued his occupation on foot.

KaKa Gesick's father was a medicine man and passed along his knowledge to his son. Truly this knowledge was magic for it kept John alive all these years. On one occasion gangrene had set in on one of his feet. The doctor advised the family to give permission to amputate the foot but John said "no cut" and miraculously the foot healed with no after effects. Several times upon contracting a cold or minor illness, he would use Indian medicine and chant Indian songs that healed him without white man medicine.

The statement as "honest as the day is long" truly fits this great Indian. John paid all bills promptly and although he spoke very little English, he was able to communicate and have his needs and desires fulfilled.

John lived with the white man but still did not forget his Indian customs. Each year he would make his annual trek into Canada and participate in the pow-wows and sing and dance the old Indian way.

In honor of John, Muskeg Bay, on the Southern end of Lake of the Woods, was changed officially to KaKa Gesick Bay. A small tribute to a man who walked its shores for so many years.

The old medicine man will remain as a bright memory to many Warroad residents throughout the coming years. He will remain in their minds as a symbol of the past a link with the natives of this country four generations ago.

"Of no distemper, of no blast he died,

But fell like autumn fruit that mellow'd long,--

Even wonder'd at, because he dropp'd no sooner.

Fate seom'd to wind him up for five-score years,

Yet freshly ran he on twenty winters more;

Till like a clock worn out with eating time,

The wheels of weary life at last stood still." (1)

--John Dryden

(1) Kathleen Sproul, The Shorter~Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (New York: Perma Books,1937,) page 113