John Powless

In Loving Memory of
John Clarence Powless

November 5, 1941 – June 14, 2003

John Clarence Powless, age 61, of Redgranite and Milwaukee, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly early Saturday morning, June 14, 2003 at his home in Redgranite.

John was born November 5, 1941 in Rushville, NE to Clarence M. Powless and Ethel N. (Maxwell) Powless. He lived with his parents on the Pine Ridge Reservation until he was two years old. During WWII they moved to Milwaukee and then Oak Lawn, IL, where John attended school and graduated from Blue Island High School in 1959. John spent every summer with his Grandmother and Uncle working on their ranch in Owanka, SD. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1961, and received an honorable discharge in 1967.

John was a member of the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, Onyota’a:ka, People of the Standing Stone, and was proud of his heritage and culture. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he graduated with an Associate of Arts degree in 1987. He also attended the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, where in 1990 he received a BA in History and completed the requirements for teaching certification in Broad Field Social Studies. In 1995 he earned a certificate in American Indian Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

After serving in the Marine Corps, John moved to Wisconsin, where he worked for the state at the Veterans Home in King and at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. In 1987 he met and fell in love with Maureen Garrison, they graduated together from UWGB, moved to Milwaukee and married in May of 1991. John and Maureen were the very best of friends and inseparable partners who always wanted the best for one another.

John’s second love was motorcycles. From the time he was 16, John rode and owned Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Well known in the Milwaukee biker community as the ‘Professor’ John was a strong advocate for biker’s rights. He was a member of the Veterans of America MC and participated in many helmet rallies, runs to the High Ground and Rolling Thunder. John was at his absolute best wearing his leather jacket riding his 89’soft tail.

While living in Milwaukee, John was employed by the Seeds of Health, first as a Social Studies teacher in the Grand Alternative High School and then as their Director of Maintenance. John retired early, at age 60, because he wanted to work on ‘the next phase of his life.’ For the past year, John was building his dream, a retirement home for himself and Maureen in Redgranite.

Survivors include his loving wife and best friend, Maureen; his mother Ethel; two sisters; Rachel (Jim) Osborne and G. Elaine (Tom) Sage, his step-son and friend, Noah Montgomery, two sons: Joel B. Powless and Mark R. Powless; an adopted daughter, a niece, four nephews; and many, many friends who respected and admired him for the great man he was. John was preceded in death by his father, Clarence M. Powless, his sister, Norine, his infant daughter, Michelle, his grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and many friends.

John’s passing has left a gaping hole in the hearts and lives of those who knew and loved him. His sense of humor and intelligence, his political and social commentaries, his uncanny ability to see through any situation, his loyalty to his family and friends, his dependability, strength and trustworthiness. John was truly a man of his word; when he made a promise, he kept it.

You are with the ancestors now John. We miss you more than you could ever know, but we know your spirit is here among us, and that you will be there on the other side waiting for us when it is our time to cross over.


When someone dies, you don’t get over it by forgetting; you get over it by remembering, and you are aware that no person is ever truly lost or gone once they have been in your life and loved us, as we have loved them.
Leslie Marmon Silko