Rick had a talent for acting! He was cast in several plays where he excelled. I had the privilege of seeing him audition for a part written by an anishnabe and he killed it! My favorite is from the movie Smoke Signals. He is the one holding up the wall as the two stars get off the Greyhound bus. Adam Beach gave Rick a manly YO nod. So special to see my brother in this must see film. I've heard it said: "There are no small parts only small actors." Every character, regardless of the size of their role, should be treated with the same dedication and importance. Rick had the mindset that he can make a significant contribution to the production, even if his part is considered small. 
Kudos Rick for holding your own in this scene.

Small Treasures

When your #1 Unk is Rick Sprague you are never short on small treasures. A little turquoise ring, cookie tins, clip boards, coins, tchotchke in general. He always had a little something special for us. (I’ve honestly been battling my inner hoarder ever since)

My first beaded necklace. 

When I was 5 years old Uncle came over with a tin of seed beads for me and my twin. He helped us make patterns and a necklace each. 
I'm in my forties and I bead every day.

Sassafrass sovereignty 

One of my earliest childhood memories is seeing Uncle Rick walking down the street towards our house. He had a small sassafras tree in his hand. My mom got so excited and put water on to boil before he even got to the front door. Together they cleaned the sassafras and made us tea. That was my first taste of sassafras tea and exercising agency with food sovereignty. Never lost my taste for either.

One of our summer adventures included an endless drive to Curlew lake. What could have been a four hour drive was also a drive back in time as we pass through small mountain towns in WA. I see cars in older models than I’ve seen in years. Noticeably missing the Michigan rust. Shadow the Rez dog, Gramma Sprague, Uncle Rick, Sis and I are stuffed into Uncles truck.  We are happy to arrive at Curlew lake and unsardine ourselves from Shadow. It was a great camp trip, we left with two fish and a bald eagle feather.

The summer of ‘98 Becky and I flew out to Spokane to visit Uncle Rick. While there we met Shadow the Rez Dog. Who quickly became our four legged arch nemesis. This puppy had no manners and all of Uncle Ricks heart. It was a great summer full of small and big adventures with Uncle and Sis and Shadow. 

Summer of 2005 Uncle Rick and I find ourselves on an indefinite cross country road trip. Rick said maybe we’d be back in a week or two, hopefully less than a month. We stopped at every NDN casino on the way and plenty quite a bit out of the way. At some point I’ve had about enough of Arizona and am ready to never see the dessert again. Plan was to hit the Apache Gold casino on the way out.  Afterwards I’m ready to leave Arizona behind for good, but turns out we have one more stop to make. I’ll be damned if it isn’t to my old arch nemesis’s Shadow the Rez dogs birth place. So Uncle could see if he could spot any of Shadows dog relatives around the Rez. 
Uncle loved that rez dog so much.

One morning when I was asleep in a tent Uncle came and woke me up right before dawn. He put me in a little boat and told me what a troll was as we fished. He took a picture of me holding my fish up. He showed me my first eagles nest that morning. Just the purest Uncle there was.

My Uncle Rick saw there was some slack to pick up. And he picked it up. And he picked me, Kara, and little David up. He picked us up in his raggedy cars. All the time. He obviously noticed we had some unmet needs. Without judging anyone or shaming anyone he simply picked up the slack. 
He was a gentle giant. He never lifted me up, or swung me around. He never rough house or tickled. He was just my giant safe bodyguard that enriched my life with deep conversations and field trips. When I was 3 or 4 this guy was reading me college history books. Pointing out how they were centered on the white experience. This was partly the beginning of my radicalization. He would tell me about powwow committee meetings, he was including early age me. Other grown ups did not do that. He never yelled, other grown ups didn't do that. In traditional Anishinabe fashion he treated me as a full citizen. He was my reliability. I'm so grateful he was my grown up.

I remember when people actually danced at house parties, give us a disco ball and watch the fun! It was normal for Rick and all my brothers to get up and get down to "We are family, I got all my sisters with me" By Sister Sledge. How proud and honored I was to have my brothers willingly and unapologetically join me on the dance floor each and every time this song came on.
Thank you Rick for being the closest thing to a sister I ever had. You impact on me and my children is epic! I can't wait to dance to that song again. Surrounded by our family who dance like nobody's watching.

I'm gonna miss you big brother. Your love for dogs was life long as was your love for family. We had epic road trips singing at the top of our voices to songs of the 1970's.  We sang Hotel California Acapella at your wedding in Arizona.   You were a tender soul who comforted me as a kid. Especially after you hit a softball so hard, towards third base, that beaned me on the side of my head. Luckily it was the 70's and I wore a huge barrett, and that's where the live drive met my head. So I had two knobs instead of one goose egg.  Nice shot Rick! 
You will be missed big brother. Until we meet again, Janina

One time Uncle Mike and Uncle Rick gave us a few coins after they taught us the "be quiet" game. I'm thinking I won because I walked away with a dime. I'm saddened to find out I cannot celebrate because it's bedtime. Damn the babysitters really got us good. 
I have no pockets and I'm not letting this dime go. So I put it in my mouth for safekeeping cause I was THREE YEARS OLD.  Very bad idea because I swallowed it. I told Uncle Rick and Uncle Mike who game me a glass of water and put me back to bed. No one ever told my parents. We all know Rick was a coin collector...I like to think I always carry a part of his collection around in my intestines.

From one of our trips to visit him when he was in Spokane. He took us to some beautiful rose gardens

OBITUARY

Richard Mark Sprague

July 28, 1960 – November 19, 2024

Kubiak-Cook Funeral Services - Dorr Chapel

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