WHITE HORSE, S.D. -- Keith Duane Jewett, "Akitia Najin" Standing Soldier,
age 63, entered the spirit world Aug. 28 at his home near White Horse.

Jewett was the youngest of 10 children born to George and Catherine (Keva)
Rousseau Jewett on Aug. 12, 1942 in Rapid City. He attended school in Eagle
Butte and graduated in 1959. He was nominated by Sen. Karl Mundt to attend
the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. He entered the Navy in 1967 and was
honorably discharged. Jewett attended college at Black Hills State College
and the University of South Dakota.

Jewett had an eclectic work history, from serving as the director of Indian
Studies in Midland Luther College in Midland, Neb. to being elected
treasurer of the National Congress of American Indians in 1983 to winning
the W.C. Stone Award for selling insurance from Combined Insurance Co. He
also served as the vice chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

He became an expert in the field of Indian finance, and helped many area
ranchers and business people with securing financing. This new era required
him to develop his computer skills and became proficient with the computer
with the help and encouragement of his daughters. Despite working off the
ranch, he carried on the family's ranching tradition east of White Horse.
His son-in-law and his grandkids have been learning the ins and outs of
ranching from a fifth-generation cattleman.

Jewett was an avid reader, writer and eloquent speaker. He wrote hundreds
of poems as well as business plans. He had an amazing grasp on history and
could not only trace his own lineage many generations, but many local
families as well. He was always an advocate of education and could wax
eloquent on everything from the Winters Doctrine to Shakespeare to the
Indian Finance Act. Jewett stressed the importance of reading and education
to his daughters and their friends, who fondly remember many Sunday
brunches reading the great works of Shakespeare.

In February of 2004 he was diagnosed with AML (leukemia); however that did
not stop him from being active. He continued to be active with the family
ranch, reinforcing his self-proclaimed title of being "fast and furious"
with the rope and even winning the River Championship at the Lawrence
arena.