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- Bio: Logan Fontenelle bore a famous name — quietly, for the most part — though he was happy to answer the occasional call to remind Nebraskans about his ancestors' role in local history.
- Fontenelle died Sunday in his Omaha home of complications from diabetes. He was 72.
- He came from a family whose roots in Nebraska soil predate the state and the cities of Omaha and Bellevue.
- "He always used to say 'I'm not famous, but my ancestors are,' " said his wife, Leah Fontenelle.
- "Although he got a lot of recognition for his name, he would always play it down and say he just liked having the name because he was able to tell stories of his ancestors."
- A 1957 graduate of Creighton Prep, Fontenelle was the great-great-great-grandson of Chief Big Elk, the last full-blooded chief of the Omaha tribe. Fontenelle also was the great-great-grandson of Lucien Fontenelle, a French-American fur trader whose trading post, in what is now Fontenelle Forest, became one of the building blocks of Bellevue and Omaha during the early 1800s.
- Lucien Fontenelle married a daughter of Big Elk. One of their sons, Logan Fontenelle, was a leader of the Omaha people at a time when they were warring with the Sioux people and trying to survive the great influx of white people. The Logan Fontenelle of the 1800s was an interpreter and a warrior who spoke three languages and helped negotiate the sale of Omaha land to the government in 1854.
- Many consider him the last chief of the Omaha. That Logan Fontenelle, whom Sioux warriors killed in 1855, was the great-grand-uncle of the Logan Fontenelle who died Sunday.
- "It's a loss for the whole city," Leah Fontenelle said. "His family, the Fontenelles and the Omaha Nation, were here way before Omaha was even a city." Logan Fontenelle, she said, was a living connection to that legacy.
- He grew up in Omaha with his sister, Patricia Wentz, and their mother, Mary. The family moved to Omaha in 1942, after Fontenelle's father, also named Logan, moved to Washington, D.C., for a federal job, said a lifelong friend of the younger Logan Fontenelle, Jay Harrington.
- During World War II, Fontenelle's mother worked as a riveter on an assembly line at the Martin bomber plant south of Omaha, one of the millions of women whose home-front war efforts came to be symbolized by Rosie the Riveter. "Logan was always proud that his mother was Rosie the Riveter," Harrington said.
- Fontenelle attended St. Peter Catholic School, 27th and Leavenworth Streets, before enrolling at Creighton Prep. His mother wanted him to go to Prep and worked two jobs to make it possible, while he also worked as a handyman at the Ak-Sar-Ben racetrack, Leah Fontenelle said.
- Harrington, a classmate of Fontenelle's through St. Peter and Prep, said Fontenelle kept quiet back then about his famous heritage, partly because being loud about it was not his nature, but also because of discrimination and prejudice. Landlords had refused to rent apartments to his mother because of her race. Fontenelle had been denied entry to Omaha's old Peony Park amusement park, said Harrington, who witnessed it.
- "I knew he was Native American, and with the name 'Fontenelle,' you knew there had to be a connection with Fontenelle Park, Fontenelle Hotel, Fontenelle Boulevard, Fontenelle Forest," Harrington said.
- The first time he became aware of his buddy's family history was in 1954, when the Rev. Henry Sullivan walked one morning into a Latin class at Prep and said, "Logan Fontenelle, come with me." Everyone figured that Fontenelle was in trouble. But when he returned in the afternoon, they learned that he had been a guest of honor at an Omaha centennial luncheon.
- Sullivan asked if Fontenelle was famous. Fontenelle delivered what would become his standard line, that it was his ancestors who were famous.
- To his friend Harrington, Fontenelle observed, "They just wanted their token Indian there."
- After high school, Fontenelle attended Omaha University, the precursor to the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Fontenelle didn't finish, instead launching a career as a laborer, beginning as a circuit welder at Western Electric (later Avaya). He worked at the plant for 40 years.
- He kept in touch with his Omaha, Sioux and Ponca heritage, attending powwows and events.
- In retirement, Fontenelle made more public appearances related to his family.
- In 2006, he joined other descendants of early Omaha-area founders to give a history lesson at the General Crook House Museum. His visits to several Bellevue schools during the summer of 2006 gave rise to a student campaign that eventually restored the graves of Big Elk, his granddaughter Susan Fontenelle Neals and more than 1,000 military veterans buried at Bellevue Cemetery.
- Fontenelle didn't rush to controversy, but he did take an unexpected stand in one Bellevue Public Schools fray, when there was a movement to drop Indian-themed mascot names. He sided with people who wanted to keep names such as the Logan Fontenelle Middle School Warriors.
- Harrington said Fontenelle reasoned that the school's namesake was indeed a warrior in the 1800s, and that as a descendant, he found the name an honor.
- Survivors include two children: Natalie Fontenelle of Omaha and Logan "Steven" Fontenelle of Kansas.
- Visitation is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Korisko Larkin Staskiewicz Funeral Home, 5108 F St., with a prayer service at 6:30 p.m. The funeral is set for 10 a.m. Friday at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, 75th and Vinton Streets. Logan Fontenelle bore a famous name — quietly, for the most part — though he was happy to answer the occasional call to remind Nebraskans about his ancestors' role in local history.
- Fontenelle died Sunday in his Omaha home of complications from diabetes. He was 72.
- He came from a family whose roots in Nebraska soil predate the state and the cities of Omaha and Bellevue.
- "He always used to say 'I'm not famous, but my ancestors are,' " said his wife, Leah Fontenelle.
- "Although he got a lot of recognition for his name, he would always play it down and say he just liked having the name because he was able to tell stories of his ancestors."
- A 1957 graduate of Creighton Prep, Fontenelle was the great-great-great-grandson of Chief Big Elk, the last full-blooded chief of the Omaha tribe. Fontenelle also was the great-great-grandson of Lucien Fontenelle, a French-American fur trader whose trading post, in what is now Fontenelle Forest, became one of the building blocks of Bellevue and Omaha during the early 1800s.
- Lucien Fontenelle married a daughter of Big Elk. One of their sons, Logan Fontenelle, was a leader of the Omaha people at a time when they were warring with the Sioux people and trying to survive the great influx of white people. The Logan Fontenelle of the 1800s was an interpreter and a warrior who spoke three languages and helped negotiate the sale of Omaha land to the government in 1854.
- Many consider him the last chief of the Omaha. That Logan Fontenelle, whom Sioux warriors killed in 1855, was the great-grand-uncle of the Logan Fontenelle who died Sunday.
- "It's a loss for the whole city," Leah Fontenelle said. "His family, the Fontenelles and the Omaha Nation, were here way before Omaha was even a city." Logan Fontenelle, she said, was a living connection to that legacy.
- He grew up in Omaha with his sister, Patricia Wentz, and their mother, Mary. The family moved to Omaha in 1942, after Fontenelle's father, also named Logan, moved to Washington, D.C., for a federal job, said a lifelong friend of the younger Logan Fontenelle, Jay Harrington.
- During World War II, Fontenelle's mother worked as a riveter on an assembly line at the Martin bomber plant south of Omaha, one of the millions of women whose home-front war efforts came to be symbolized by Rosie the Riveter. "Logan was always proud that his mother was Rosie the Riveter," Harrington said.
- Fontenelle attended St. Peter Catholic School, 27th and Leavenworth Streets, before enrolling at Creighton Prep. His mother wanted him to go to Prep and worked two jobs to make it possible, while he also worked as a handyman at the Ak-Sar-Ben racetrack, Leah Fontenelle said.
- Harrington, a classmate of Fontenelle's through St. Peter and Prep, said Fontenelle kept quiet back then about his famous heritage, partly because being loud about it was not his nature, but also because of discrimination and prejudice. Landlords had refused to rent apartments to his mother because of her race. Fontenelle had been denied entry to Omaha's old Peony Park amusement park, said Harrington, who witnessed it.
- "I knew he was Native American, and with the name 'Fontenelle,' you knew there had to be a connection with Fontenelle Park, Fontenelle Hotel, Fontenelle Boulevard, Fontenelle Forest," Harrington said.
- The first time he became aware of his buddy's family history was in 1954, when the Rev. Henry Sullivan walked one morning into a Latin class at Prep and said, "Logan Fontenelle, come with me." Everyone figured that Fontenelle was in trouble. But when he returned in the afternoon, they learned that he had been a guest of honor at an Omaha centennial luncheon.
- Sullivan asked if Fontenelle was famous. Fontenelle delivered what would become his standard line, that it was his ancestors who were famous.
- To his friend Harrington, Fontenelle observed, "They just wanted their token Indian there."
- After high school, Fontenelle attended Omaha University, the precursor to the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Fontenelle didn't finish, instead launching a career as a laborer, beginning as a circuit welder at Western Electric (later Avaya). He worked at the plant for 40 years.
- He kept in touch with his Omaha, Sioux and Ponca heritage, attending powwows and events.
- In retirement, Fontenelle made more public appearances related to his family.
- In 2006, he joined other descendants of early Omaha-area founders to give a history lesson at the General Crook House Museum. His visits to several Bellevue schools during the summer of 2006 gave rise to a student campaign that eventually restored the graves of Big Elk, his granddaughter Susan Fontenelle Neals and more than 1,000 military veterans buried at Bellevue Cemetery.
- Fontenelle didn't rush to controversy, but he did take an unexpected stand in one Bellevue Public Schools fray, when there was a movement to drop Indian-themed mascot names. He sided with people who wanted to keep names such as the Logan Fontenelle Middle School Warriors.
- Harrington said Fontenelle reasoned that the school's namesake was indeed a warrior in the 1800s, and that as a descendant, he found the name an honor.
- Survivors include two children: Natalie Fontenelle of Omaha and Logan "Steven" Fontenelle of Kansas.
- Visitation is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Korisko Larkin Staskiewicz Funeral Home, 5108 F St., with a prayer service at 6:30 p.m. The funeral is set for 10 a.m. Friday at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, 75th and Vinton Streets.Logan Fontenelle bore a famous name — quietly, for the most part — though he was happy to answer the occasional call to remind Nebraskans about his ancestors' role in local history.
- Fontenelle died Sunday in his Omaha home of complications from diabetes. He was 72.
- He came from a family whose roots in Nebraska soil predate the state and the cities of Omaha and Bellevue.
- "He always used to say 'I'm not famous, but my ancestors are,' " said his wife, Leah Fontenelle.
- "Although he got a lot of recognition for his name, he would always play it down and say he just liked having the name because he was able to tell stories of his ancestors."
- A 1957 graduate of Creighton Prep, Fontenelle was the great-great-great-grandson of Chief Big Elk, the last full-blooded chief of the Omaha tribe. Fontenelle also was the great-great-grandson of Lucien Fontenelle, a French-American fur trader whose trading post, in what is now Fontenelle Forest, became one of the building blocks of Bellevue and Omaha during the early 1800s.
- Lucien Fontenelle married a daughter of Big Elk. One of their sons, Logan Fontenelle, was a leader of the Omaha people at a time when they were warring with the Sioux people and trying to survive the great influx of white people. The Logan Fontenelle of the 1800s was an interpreter and a warrior who spoke three languages and helped negotiate the sale of Omaha land to the government in 1854.
- Many consider him the last chief of the Omaha. That Logan Fontenelle, whom Sioux warriors killed in 1855, was the great-grand-uncle of the Logan Fontenelle who died Sunday.
- "It's a loss for the whole city," Leah Fontenelle said. "His family, the Fontenelles and the Omaha Nation, were here way before Omaha was even a city." Logan Fontenelle, she said, was a living connection to that legacy.
- He grew up in Omaha with his sister, Patricia Wentz, and their mother, Mary. The family moved to Omaha in 1942, after Fontenelle's father, also named Logan, moved to Washington, D.C., for a federal job, said a lifelong friend of the younger Logan Fontenelle, Jay Harrington.
- During World War II, Fontenelle's mother worked as a riveter on an assembly line at the Martin bomber plant south of Omaha, one of the millions of women whose home-front war efforts came to be symbolized by Rosie the Riveter. "Logan was always proud that his mother was Rosie the Riveter," Harrington said.
- Fontenelle attended St. Peter Catholic School, 27th and Leavenworth Streets, before enrolling at Creighton Prep. His mother wanted him to go to Prep and worked two jobs to make it possible, while he also worked as a handyman at the Ak-Sar-Ben racetrack, Leah Fontenelle said.
- Harrington, a classmate of Fontenelle's through St. Peter and Prep, said Fontenelle kept quiet back then about his famous heritage, partly because being loud about it was not his nature, but also because of discrimination and prejudice. Landlords had refused to rent apartments to his mother because of her race. Fontenelle had been denied entry to Omaha's old Peony Park amusement park, said Harrington, who witnessed it.
- "I knew he was Native American, and with the name 'Fontenelle,' you knew there had to be a connection with Fontenelle Park, Fontenelle Hotel, Fontenelle Boulevard, Fontenelle Forest," Harrington said.
- The first time he became aware of his buddy's family history was in 1954, when the Rev. Henry Sullivan walked one morning into a Latin class at Prep and said, "Logan Fontenelle, come with me." Everyone figured that Fontenelle was in trouble. But when he returned in the afternoon, they learned that he had been a guest of honor at an Omaha centennial luncheon.
- Sullivan asked if Fontenelle was famous. Fontenelle delivered what would become his standard line, that it was his ancestors who were famous.
- To his friend Harrington, Fontenelle observed, "They just wanted their token Indian there."
- After high school, Fontenelle attended Omaha University, the precursor to the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Fontenelle didn't finish, instead launching a career as a laborer, beginning as a circuit welder at Western Electric (later Avaya). He worked at the plant for 40 years.
- He kept in touch with his Omaha, Sioux and Ponca heritage, attending powwows and events.
- In retirement, Fontenelle made more public appearances related to his family.
- In 2006, he joined other descendants of early Omaha-area founders to give a history lesson at the General Crook House Museum. His visits to several Bellevue schools during the summer of 2006 gave rise to a student campaign that eventually restored the graves of Big Elk, his granddaughter Susan Fontenelle Neals and more than 1,000 military veterans buried at Bellevue Cemetery.
- Fontenelle didn't rush to controversy, but he did take an unexpected stand in one Bellevue Public Schools fray, when there was a movement to drop Indian-themed mascot names. He sided with people who wanted to keep names such as the Logan Fontenelle Middle School Warriors.
- Harrington said Fontenelle reasoned that the school's namesake was indeed a warrior in the 1800s, and that as a descendant, he found the name an honor.
- Survivors include two children: Natalie Fontenelle of Omaha and Logan "Steven" Fontenelle of Kansas.
- Visitation is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Korisko Larkin Staskiewicz Funeral Home, 5108 F St., with a prayer service at 6:30 p.m. The funeral is set for 10 a.m. Friday at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, 75th and Vinton Streets. Published in Omaha World-Herald from December 13 to December 15, 2011
Skapad av: Sorella (47247306)
wn.
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1939 - 2011 (72 år)
