Theresa Price, 78, White Shield, died on Wednesday, September 11, 2019 at a Minot Nursing Facility.  Funeral services will be held on Monday at 10:00 am at the Ralph Wells Jr. Memorial Complex.  Wake services will be held on Sunday beginning at 5:00 pm at the complex.  Viewing will be held on Sunday from 2 to 4 at Thompson Funeral Home in Garrison.

Terisa (Teresa) Wilkinson Price, RN BSN tendered her resignation, leaving pain behind and moved on to her Next Project Wednesday September 11, 2019. She was of the Nagiinawii (3 Clan) Apuuka Migga (Low Cap) that guided the work of her hands and the fruit she bore. The eldest daughter to John Sr. and Helen (Wolfe) Wilkinson, she was born July 4, 1941 in Elbow Woods, a community that once thrived on the Ft. Berthold Indian Reservation but now rests under Lake Sakakawea.

She was given her first name at the time of her birth by her grandmother, Uutawia Jeanette Coffee, mother of Pete Coffee (Sr.), Ma'cu'aca Nugabagish (Sweetgrass Bloomed) due to the complicated birth that threatened her life – and she thrived. Beloved grandchild, she was raised under the tutelage of her grandmother. The family's simple life of hard work provided lessons she carried throughout her life: raw nature tamed in traditional ways to provide a bounty intended to be shared without hesitation. At the behest of her grandmother, who knew the promise education held, she attended boarding school divorced from the security of home. The only language she knew was banished and her authentic spiritual practices were prohibited as she was introduced to Christ. She lived a life of authentic faith, blending her traditional ways with our Ever Present Creator and a Catholic faith so strong it carried her through life.

Her nursing career began in Garrison, ND where she and her husband Keith Sr. resided with their budding family before moving to Bismarck in 1971. Crossing invisible boundaries, nursing became her ministry. She didn't know the meaning of "no" or "can't", her reply was always, "Watch my smoke". The ministry that began in Garrison, ND moved like wind through Riverside, CA, Bismarck, Mandan, Ft. Yates, New Town and finally her home community of White Shield, North Dakota.

She lost her parents to complications of diabetes before dialysis was an option, and before realizing the devastating impact of the disease on Indigenous people. While serving as Director of Nursing at the Standing Rock Hospital in Ft. Yates, she converted an under-used wing of the hospital into a Dialysis unit that continues to provide dignified care for tribal members. She left government service and returned to Fort Berthold where, from a trailer in a field, she oversaw construction and accreditation of a stand-alone dialysis center that continues to care for her people at home. Knowing the value and empowerment of education, she ensured every staff member was cross trained and ready to protect the people they served. Drivers were paramedics, even the man wielding the mop was a certified technician for the array of machinery required to meet the high standards of operation.

She took a break when the love of her life passed on, and returned to her next project: ensuring the establishment and accreditation of the White Shield Community clinic to care for the People she loved. She was never bothered by what her comrades looked like, how they sounded, what they wore, "as long as they knew what the hell they were doing!" and if they didn't, she made sure they were trained. Wear and tear on her hard working hands forced her into retirement, long before she felt she was finished. Hands that chopped wood, split coal, hauled water and birthed babies brought comfort to thousands under her care.

Mother of twelve, Abaaxii Hishiiwiash (Red Cloud Woman), named by her grandfather Dan Wolfe, caretaker of the Skulls, the Water Buster medicine, at the age of 2, was told she would never have children, yet raised her eight that met the sun and longed for the four that hadn't. We trust the four that went before welcomed her home, standing to salute their beautiful, beloved, hard working Mother as she embarked on her Next Project pain free. This quiet, humble woman left a legacy of care for those she will never know, without hesitation, and that's the way it should be.

Those who went before her were her parents, John Wilkinson Sr., Helen (Wolfe) Wilkinson, siblings John Jr. "Tiny", Richard "Dickie", Beverly, Howard Sr., Tilmer and four Little Ones. She is survived by siblings Gloria and Arnold, and the eight that met the sun: Hyram, Lillian (Jones), Vanessa, Tara, Holly, Helen, Keith Jr. and Mary (Baker).