Theodore Dewitt “Ted” Mahto, Jr.
(1925 – October 20, 2018)
Theodore Dewitt “Ted” Mahto, Jr., 93, passed away in New Ulm, MN at 3am Saturday morning October 20th, 2018 after struggling with lung cancer for several years.
“Ted”, also known as “Pops”, was an enrolled member of the Red Lake Nation of Chippewa. He attended the Pipestone Indian Training School until he graduated two years early, and enlisted in the Army Air Corps where he served as tail-gunner in a B-25 Mitchell Bomber in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. After the war he used the GI Bill to pursue his post secondary education, graduating with a BA from the University of Minnesota and an MA from South Dakota State Teacher’s College in Aberdeen, SD.
He married Eunice Marie King (Flathead/Salish/Kootenai) in 1946 and pursued a career in education as a teacher for the next 17 years. They divorced in 1964. He remarried in 1967 to Ms. Geraldine Ellen Gemsey, and moved to Minneapolis where he accepted a position as the Native American Community liaison officer for the Minneapolis Public Schools, assisting in the implementation of Title IX legislation while developing culturally specific curriculum programming in support of Native students. He would prove instrumental in the founding of the Minneapolis American Indian Center, as well as working on passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act. He was an absolute aficionado when it came to music appreciation and his love of the written language is well known.
He is survived by his four sons, Robin “Rob”, Jamison Chester “Jams”, Kevin Lee, “Nates” and Sean Bradley and his daughter, Lori Shannon Brock “Maa Bear”, as well as grand children, great grand children and great great grandchildren – too numerous to mention here. A second daughter, Antoinette Marie “Toni”, died in a car accident in 1968.
His remains having been cremated, a memorial ceremony will be observed in honor of his passing and his service to his country during WWII at Ft. Snelling Cemetery on May 8th, 2019 at 2pm in Assembly Area 5.
