IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY BELOVED BROTHER, SEQUOYAH TRUEBLOOD
Beloved Relatives,
It is with a deeply sorrowful heart that I share that my beloved brother, Sequoyah Euvaughn Trueblood, passed peacefully to the Other Side Camp in Calgary, Alberta, on July 26, 2026, at 85 years of age.
Brother Sequoyah and I first met around 1990. For approximately thirty-six years, we walked together as brothers, relatives, fellow pipe carriers, and servants of our Indigenous Peoples and the Human Family. Through all those years, I came to know him as a deeply spiritual man, a gifted healer and teacher, a compassionate Elder, and a faithful messenger of peace.
Our relationship was never merely professional. Sequoyah was my beloved brother. We were joined through prayer, ceremony, healing work, and our shared commitment to restoring the spiritual, cultural, emotional, and social foundations of our Indigenous Nations. We shared a deep understanding that genuine healing must arise from within the hearts of the people and must be rooted in culture, identity, ceremony, love, forgiveness, and service.
Brother Sequoyah was born in Stroud, Oklahoma, and was enrolled with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He was also widely known and respected for his Cherokee and Choctaw heritage. His life journey was truly extraordinary. As a young man, he served in Vietnam as a Green Beret, became a major, and worked in military intelligence as a code breaker. He spoke Thai, Korean, and Japanese. Yet, following those difficult experiences of war, he undertook a profound journey of healing, inner transformation, and recovery of his spiritual and Indigenous roots.
Out of that transformation came a life of extraordinary service.
As a pipe carrier, ceremonialist, healer, counselor, and teacher, Sequoyah carried healing circles, prayer gatherings, and traditional ceremonies among peoples of many cultures. He worked with Indigenous Peoples and communities throughout Canada, the United States, Russia, Thailand, Bolivia, Colombia, and Guyana. His service reached young people, incarcerated relatives, educators, spiritual leaders, businesspeople, and many others searching for healing, meaning, and a way home to themselves.
Brother Sequoyah taught that life itself is “the One Ceremony” and reminded all who came into his presence of the sacredness of all things. His quiet strength and compassionate heart enabled him to reach wounded spirits and soothe troubled minds. He never placed himself above others. He met people wherever they were and helped them recognize the sacred dignity that had always lived within them.
Above all, Sequoyah placed young people first. He understood that our children and future generations must be protected, encouraged, and given every opportunity to recover their identity, spiritual strength, cultural foundations, and hope. This dedication was central to who he was and to everything he carried.
I was deeply grateful that Brother Sequoyah shared his knowledge and experience with our Four Worlds healing work. He was among the respected Indigenous healing practitioners whose wisdom helped inform Mapping the Healing Journey, our national study of healing within Indigenous communities across Canada. His understanding contributed to a body of work that continues to guide communities along the long road from hurt and dependency toward healing, transformation, self-determination, and nation rebuilding.
Sequoyah was the father of five children and the grandfather of nine grandchildren. To his children, grandchildren, family members, ceremonial relatives, students, friends, and the countless people whose lives he touched, I extend my deepest love, prayers, and condolences. Relatives throughout many lands share your sorrow.
Brother Sequoyah, I give thanks to Wakan Tanka—the Great Spirit, the Great Mystery, the Maker of All Good Things—for allowing our trails to come together and for giving me the blessing of walking beside you for nearly thirty-six years.
Although your physical presence has left us, your prayers, teachings, laughter, compassion, ceremonies, and loving service remain alive. They live within your children and grandchildren. They live within the young people whom you encouraged. They live within the wounded hearts you helped to heal and within every person you reminded of the sacredness of life.
My beloved Brother Sequoyah, you have completed this part of your sacred journey. May your passage to the Other Side Camp be peaceful. May your Ancestors welcome you with joy. May the Sacred Fire light your way, and may you continue to pray for all of us as we carry forward the work you loved so dearly.
You will always be remembered. You will always be loved. You will always be my brother.
Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ—We Are All Related.
