Rex B. Harrison,Jr. Rex Bente Harrison, Jr. passed away on Oct. 3 at his home in Lakewood, with his wife, Nancy, by his side. He was 62. Rex was born December 3, 1944 in Houck, Ariz., to Marie Thompson and Rex Harrison Sr. He was a full-blood member of the Navajo (Dine#) Nation. Rex was born to the To'dikozhi (Salt Water People) on his mother's side and born for the Ashiihi' (Salt People) on his father's side. His maternal grandfather was Naakaii Dine'e' (Mexican People) and his paternal grandfather was Ta'baaha' (Edge of Water People). He was a lifelong member of Native American Church and was founder and president of the Red Cedar Chapter of N.A.C. in the Puget Sound area. He had strong beliefs in the Navajo traditional ways and spirituality and was a fluent speaker of the Navajo language. Rex attended public schools in Barstow, CA, and McNary, AZ, as well as government boarding schools, and earned his high school diploma from Riverside Indian School in Anadarko, OK, in 1963. He earned his Bachelor#s degree in Health Care Administration from Metropolitan State College in Denver, CO, in 1987, and in 1989 received his Master#s degree in Health Policy and Administration from the University of California at Berkeley#s Graduate School of Public Health. Rex was a U.S. Navy veteran of the Vietnam War, serving as a medical corpsman aboard the Hospital Ship USS Repose and at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. A man with an adventurous spirit, Rex had traveled to every state in the U.S. He spent five years in New York City in the 1980s, where he was the director of the American Indian Survival House, an organization of urban homesteaders who occupied, reclaimed and renovated an abandoned building and used it to house programs for American Indians in Manhattan. Following his graduation from UC Berkeley, Rex served as executive director of the Pit River Tribal Health Clinic in Burney, California. He moved to Tacoma in 1993 to join his future wife, Nancy Butterfield, whom he had met at Berkeley. They were married in 1996 after a nine-year friendship and courtship, and remain deeply in love that transcends time and mortality. Rex and Nancy honored and participated in each other#s spiritual traditions, and Rex liked to attend special events at the Tacoma Buddhist Temple where Nancy is a member. Rex spent 10 years with the Puyallup Tribal Health Authority as a planner and team coordinator overseeing the mental health, elders, treatment center and facilities programs. During his first year there he and others built a sweatlodge on tribal grounds and began conducting weekly sweatlodge ceremonies for Native veterans, those in treatment, and other community members, a tradition that continues to this day. Rex worked for the last two years as a planner/grantwriter for the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, a position he held until his passing. He made lifelong friends everywhere he went, and will be deeply missed by his coworkers, Native American Church and sweatlodge brothers and sisters, and most especially by his wife and family and his dog, Abbie. Rex was preceded in death by his parents, Rex Harrison Sr. and Marie Thompson; his son Rex (#Bengie#) Harrison III; his brother Gilbert Harrison; and his sister Justina (#Tessie#) Sikora. He is survived by his wife, Nancy Butterfield; his daughter Teri Harrison of Biloxi,MS; daughter-in-law Michelle Harrison of Shawnee, OK; nine grandchildren; his brothers Glen (wife Laverne) Harrison of Kirtland, NM; Virgil Ellison (wife Jeanette) of Greenville, SC; Harry Harrison of Red Valley, AZ; and Jonathan R. Ellison of Albuquerque, NM; his sisters Vergie Thompson (husband William #Fletch# Fletcher) of Phoenix, AZ and Mattie Worland of Barstow, CA; many nieces and nephews, extended family and clan relatives. Memorial services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, at the Puyallup Tribal Youth Center, 5803 N. Levee Road E., Fife, WA 98424. A dinner will follow. A second memorial services is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, at Tacoma Buddhist Temple, 1717 S. Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, WA 98402. A reception will follow. Everyone is welcome to attend both services. Special thanks go to the tribal councils and staff members of the Puyallup and Chehalis Tribes, and Roleen Hargrove, John Jarrett, Gabriel and Lena Landry and Lennea Magnus in particular, for their generosity, support and friendship; to Rex#s Native American Church brothers & sisters for their prayers, songs and love; to Dr. Kevin Braun; to Rex#s outstanding Franciscan Hospice nurse Ruby and social worker Linda; and to the Rev. Shinjun Fukuma and the wonderful members of the Tacoma Buddhist Temple, and especially Edward and Darlene Matsumoto, for their friendship, wisdom and compassion. Pub Date: 10/9/2007 Tacoma News Tribune