Jesse âJayâ Taken Alive sought solace in the tepee he put up next to his house on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation when the coronavirus hit the Dakotas this past spring.
His brother Virgil recalls Jesse telling him, Thatâs the place where I go and pray because of this pandemic. I donât want it to affect us, as a people.
But the virus surged through the region this fall, and Jesse, a former tribal chairman and spiritual leader, started to feel ill. The 65-year-old was hospitalized in late October and died Monday, a little over a month after his wife, Cheryl, also passed away from COVID-19.