Sheldon American Horse, age 56, of Billings, formerly of Lame Deer

Sheldon Kyle American Horse was born on September 22nd, 1964 in Crow Agency, Montana to Cyrilla Kinzel-Bearchum and Ward “Texas” American Horse. Sheldon spent most of his years in Lame Deer where he grew up with brothers Daniel and Dornie and spent his childhood at the Kinzel ranch. He had a love for hot rods since he was young. Sheldon, Dornie, and Daniel would then help each other by fixing up their favorite models and drive down past the Powwow grounds, and had a few hot rod races to see who had the best vehicle. Sheldon always loved his Ford Mustangs and was quite fond of the ones he built with his brothers, while Daniel was a Chevy man and Dornie favored Dodge. He attended Colstrip High School, was made Royalty, and was nominated for Homecoming King. He has a story over there who his old classmates still recall to this day is when he played as an End in high school football and scored an 80 yard “Hail Mary” touchdown while playing against Red Lodge. He was the smallest player on the team and it was a crucial touchdown he had scored and ended up winning the game and when the final whistle blew the whole team hoisted Sheldon up and paraded him around “like a little monkey.” Another favorable memory of Sheldon is when he was with his brother Daniel at the Cat’s Paw in Bozeman, Montana. The band REO Speedwagon and the Fruits was playing a concert in Bozeman at the time when they went to the bar after the show and had met up with two fellow Cheyenne’s, BL and ML, which they called Sheldon and Daniel their “brothers” so they were all hanging out when the bar asked if anyone wanted to leave as the bar was closing for the night but the four decided to stay behind and watch the local band play a little more. Right as the doors close REO SPEEDWAGON casually walks on stage and takes over mid-song and holds a private show right there in the bar and afterward they get invited to meet the band and Sheldon spent the rest of that night with lead guitarist Gary Richrath breaking picks, flicking them at each other, trading guitars and living up every moment and I am sure that is one of his most favorite memories and only fueled his love for Classic Rock. He also loved his football. Sheldon was a die-hard “Raider Nation” fan and during his time of living out in Spokane, Washington he had become a huge “ZAGS” fan. Sheldon had a love for motorcycles and loved to do mechanic work whenever he got the chance it did not matter what it was, he loved to be a handyman and get things done. He also used to be in a band, which was named “SS” Sheldon was the Vocals/Bass, Dennis McCormick was on drums, Vernon Otherbull Jr. was slapping the Bass, and “Slick” was rocking the synthesizer. He also had a smaller band before then which included Dennis, Sheldon, Oly and Pat McMakin which they called themselves “Tough Luck” playing all around the Rez even at times hooking up a trailer and playing right downtown Lame Deer. Sheldon paid his bills by working construction, and mostly just made his living with his bare hands and prided himself on being a handyman. You could call him the definition of a “go-getter” because that is exactly what he did he got after it! Anyone who knows Sheldon will tell you that he loved to make people laugh and was often known for constantly quoting his favorite movie of all time “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” One of his favorite lines to say whenever he was doing mechanic work “Let me show you this old Indian trick a white man taught me.” In 1995, Sheldon had met Delvene Eagleman and from this union, Zackery Kyle Eagleman, and Joshua Joseph American Horse were born. And in 1996 Sheldon met and married Candace Elk Shoulder and from this union, Jeffrey Jackson Elk Shoulder was born and Cameron Shea Elk Shoulder had become a significant part of his life. All in all, Sheldon meant a lot to so many people and his spirit and his goofiness will be missed by many. Our father, brother, uncle, grandfather, old man, and so much more was tragically taken from us on Wednesday, October 21st, and peacefully started his journey to Tse’un at around 1:24 pm. We miss him with each day that goes by and he has left a void in many people’s hearts. We all take comfort in knowing that even though Sheldon was what you consider a “free bird” and liked to live his life on the road that his last journey he will be making is his journey back home. He is survived by his sisters, Karma(Johnny) Chavez of Billings, Rebecca American Horse of Lame Deer, brothers Dornie American Horse of Spokane, Daniel(Azuri) Texas, Coolidge Killsontop, and Walter American Horse of Billings, Floyd American Horse, of Billings MT.  The family would also like to recognize Ron Spang as a mentor for Sheldon.  his sons; Zackery Kyle Eagleman of Billings, Jeffrey (Suntaya) Jackson Elk Shoulder of Lame Deer, His Special Nephew who he was very close with Terry Mark (Aspen) American Horse of Missoula, nephews Brent Sheldon American Horse(Kayla),Kevin American Horse, Brandy and Randy American Horse, Pistol Chavez, Joe Chavez, Victor Costa Jr.(Lorna) of Billings, Bryan Costa of Lame Deer, Daryl Ward American Horse, of Lame Deer, Sonny American Horse, “Baby D” American Horse, Darren American Horse, nieces Crissy Chavez, Amber Costa, Mya Costa, Meta Faye Pickett, Devin American Horse, Desiree American Horse, Deeka American Horse, Michelle Eagle Feathers. He is preceded in death by his father Ward “Texas” American Horse, mother Cyrilla Kinzel-Bearchum, son Joshua Joseph American Horse, nieces Kami American Horse, Nichole Rose Costa. The family would also like to take a moment and mention Sheldon’s band “SS” and give them a very special shout out because Sheldon often talked about the old jam session days where his hair would be big and permed and him dressed in black leather jacket. Honorable pallbearers are his adopted parents Blayne and Denetta Falls Down of Crow Agency, Chris Rochelle, Ivan Fire Crow(deceased), Cameron Elk Shoulder, Dennis McCormick. Our extedend family includes Killsnight, Red Bird, Wolf Chief, Ridge Bear, Kinzel, Harris, Spang, Rapos, Hiwalker, Limberhand, McMakin, and Whiteman.  If there is anyone else in the family that we may have forgotten please do not feel we left anyone out on purpose as we are trying to include everyone we can. The family would also like to respect the epidemic and make sure everyone is safe during this time which is why the family is going to have a Traditional Wake Monday, October 26that Rebecca American Horse’s residence. We would also like to have everyone as safe as possible which is why we decided to have a Graveyard service for Sheldon on Tuesday, October 27th which will be held at the Texas American Horse Family Cemetery north of Lame Deer, officiated by Willis Busenitz of Busby.

Service Schedule

Traditional Wake

7:00 PM

Monday October 26, 2020

Rebecca American Horse Residence

Lame Deer, MT

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Graveside Service

11:00 AM

Tuesday October 27, 2020

Texas American Horse Family Cemetery

Lame Deer, MT

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