Alfreda Zhooniyawabiik (Gold Woman) Stillday

Alfreda Stillday

July 29, 1939 - December 15, 2016

Alfreda Stillday, 77, of Ponemah, MN, whose Ojibwe name is Zhooniyawabiik (Gold Woman), died on December 15, 2016 at the Red Lake IHS Hospital in Red Lake, MN.

Traditional Indian Services will be held on Tuesday, December 20 at the Ponemah Boys and Girls Club in Ponemah, Minnesota with Spiritual Leader Tony Treuer. A wake will begin on the evening of Monday, December 19, 2016 at the Ponemah Boys and Girls Club in Ponemah and will continue until the time of the interment. Interment will be at the Family Burial Grounds east of Ponemah. Cease Family Funeral Home of Blackduck assisted the family with arrangements.

Active pallbearers will be Alfreda's family.

Alfreda was born into the Marten Clan on July 29, 1939, the daughter of Arthur and Evelyn (Kingbird) Johnson. She attended schools at Ponemah Elementary, Red Lake High School and Blackduck schools. She later got her GED and attended the accelerated Nursing Certificate program at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN. She married Eugene Stillday, Sr. on September 16, 1956 at the Waubun Chapel in Ponemah. They lived in Ponemah for a while and then moved to Mountain Iron, MN and St. Paul, MN. They eventually moved to Aberdeen, South Dakota where she worked as a short order cook in a small café for about 6 years. In the early 60's they moved back to Ponemah where she worked for Red Lake Comprehensive Health Program as a home health aide and as the school health aide at the Ponemah Elementary School. She retired from the Red Lake Chemical Health as a counselor. She enjoyed sewing, knitting, crocheting, Bingo, shopping, powwows, traveling and baking.

She is survived by her husband, Eugene Stillday, Sr. of Ponemah; her children, Tharen (Jim) Stillday-Needham of Red Lake, MN, Arlys (Roy, Sr.) Stillday-Nelson of Ponemah, Denise Stillday-Tellez of Sioux City, IA, Harlan (Lisa) Stillday of Ponemah, Michael (Barbara) Stillday of Redby, MN, Eugene Stillday, Jr. of Remer, MN; Leon Kingbird of Minneapolis, MN who became part of her family; god-daughter, Susan Eichstadt of Bemidji, MN; 18 grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren; a brother, Dennis Johnson of Bemidji; a sister, Leila (Mark) Johnson of the Twin Cities, MN; Aunt Della Geistling of Chicago, IL; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Arthur and Evelyn Johnson; grand-daughter, Chanelle Rosebear; brothers, Everett and William Johnson; sisters, Charlotte and Priscilla; grandfather, Sam Kingbird; uncle, Dan Kingbird; aunt Eva French; and a niece, Tammy Jo Johnson.