Marsha Gaye LaFontaine, Śiná Śa Win, "Red Shawl Woman" age 56, Agency Village, SD, passed away on April 21, 2024, Sanford Medical Center, Webster, SD, surrounded by her family. A Memorial Service will be held on Friday, April 26, 2024 at 2:00 P.M. at the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribal Community Center, Agency Village, SD.  There will be all night Wake services on Wednesday, April 24th and Thursday, April 25th starting at 7:00 P.M. at the Tribal Community Center.

She was born on July 3, 1967 at Sisseton, South Dakota to Melvin Robertson Sr. and Doris King LaFontaine.  She attended Big Coulee Head Start, Peever Elementary School, and Wahpeton Indian School, where she graduated 8th grade and then attended Stephan Boarding School.  She then left for Job Corps for a year and returned home.  She met Robert Thompson and they moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota where their son Melvin was born.  She then moved home and met Casey Cleveland, they had two children, Matthew and Cassie.

When she was a child, she was a fancy shawl dancer and enjoyed going to pow-wows with her mother.  She was baptized and confirmed at St. Mary's Episcopal Church.  In 2009, she moved to Houston, Texas to help Cassie with her 3 grandsons.  She returned to the Sisseton area a few years later.  In 2013 she was inducted into the Legends of the Game for softball. She loved to play softball with her sisters and volleyball with the family.   In her free time, she enjoyed beading, making arts and crafts, and cooking. She enjoyed visiting and spending time with her friends and family playing cards and dice games.

Marsha is survived by her children, Melvin, Matthew and Cassie; 6 grandchildren; her brothers, Clifford (Lesley) LaFontaine Jr. of Agency Village, SD, Greg (Amy) LaFontaine of Minneapolis, MN, Michael (Julie) LaFontaine, Sr. of Sisseton, SD, Kevin LaFontaine, Sr. of Peever, SD, brother/nephew Bruce German of Sisseton, SD, Melvin (Gloria) Robertson Jr. of Sisseton, SD, Wallace Robertson, of Stevensville, Montana; sisters, Charlene LaFontaine of Agency Village, SD, Jody LaFontaine of Sisseton, SD, Terri Torgerson of Sisseton, SD, Brenda Jones, Sisseton, SD, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Marsha was preceded in death by her parents Melvin Robertson, Sr. and Doris King LaFontaine; sisters Louise LaFontaine and Michelle LaFontaine; brothers Charles Robertson, Gilbert Robertson, Franklin Robertson, Adam Robertson.  Maternal grandparents Matthew King Sr. and Louise Duggan Barse. Paternal grandparents, Charles and Jane Robertson.

Marsha will be greatly missed by her children, grandchildren, siblings, nieces and nephews and friends.