Memorial Service for Francis Wayne Marks will be held on Tuesday, September 5, 2023, at 2:00 P.M. at the Buffalo Lake Presbyterian Church, Eden, South Dakota with CRE Gerald Heminger Jr. and St. Mary's Lay Readers officiating. Special music by Gabriella Bellonger. Urn Bearer will be Jake Bellonger. Honorary Urn Bearers will be Harlan Bellonger, Rudy Bellonger, Sonny Bellonger, Vine Marks, Myron Williams, Leon Marks, Hammy Marks, Tyler Bellonger and All Veterans. Drum Group will be Big Stone.  Inurnment will be in the Buffalo Lake Presbyterian Cemetery with Military Honors by Kit Fox Society.

Francis Wayne Marks was born on December 13, 1946, in the home of his grandfather Daniel Marks at Buffalo Lake, South Dakota.  His mother was Adele Marks, daughter of Daniel Marks. Daniel Marks was the son of Thomas and Sarah Marks.  Francis's life was a story of survival, courage and loving care of relatives.  He often mentioned his Grandma and Grandpa Redstar and Grandma Grace. His grandfather rescued him from the Tekakwitha orphanage in Sisseton as a baby and raised him with the help of his community of elders in the traditional Dakota custom.  Francis spoke only Dakota until he was removed from his grandfather and taken to the Sisseton Wahpeton Boarding School for Indian children.  His story of running away to return home and being punished for that and for speaking Dakota is being documented.  As a teenage he was sent by the government to L.A. in the Indian Relocation Program. He attended the Western Welding School.  The Watts Riots broke out, his school closed, and he remained homeless and stranded.  He made it back to South Dakota with the gift of a bus ticket from a stranger.  He was drafted into the Army at age 18, and subsequently served in Vietnam for two years as an Army Engineer and Heavy Equipment operator.  He survived the Siege of Dak To, earning the Valorous Unit Award and Purple Heart.  He was medevacked to Pleiku with life threatening injury and PTSD.  After Vietnam, unable to get help from the VA, he sought work on a ranch in North Dakota as a ranch hand, breaking horses and herding cattle. He returned home to Buffalo Lake whenever possible and kept his house all his life.  He removed snow for his people in winter and delivered wood, also serving as an assistant to Moses Gill in creating tribal government.  Seeking employment in Rapid City, he went to work at Ellsworth Air Force Base in landscape and grounds maintenance.  On a trip to visit friends in Seattle, WA he met his future wife, Kaye Guerin Marks, and after becoming engaged they were married in 1998. They moved to Arizona for milder winters and returned to Buffalo Lake each summer to restore his house for the next ten years. They also returned to visit her family in Washington.  Francis found his gift as a stone sculptor and created a number of find stone sculptures in his later years.  He is remembered by many who knew and admired him including his many friends and family.

He is survived by his wife Kay Guerin Marks and by one sister, Bonnie Bellonger and her husband Norbit, and their children Larry, Jake, Rudy and Jackie; their grandchildren Jennifer, Kim, Sherilyn, Paul, Stephanie, Tyler, BJ, Teagan, Kenny, Harlan, Jessica and Gabriella; Francis' cousin Vine Marks and his family Leon Marks, Sharon Marks, Hammy Marks; and other nieces and nephews.