Chuck Derby was born in the Pipestone Indian School hospital to Ethel (nee Crow) and  Harvey Derby on February 17, 1941, and he continued to live in Pipestone ever since. After attending Pipestone High school and Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, Chuck worked in general construction and natural gas pipeline construction before he began working for the Pipestone National Monument as a general laborer in 1963. He was promoted to Maintenance Supervisor in 1967 and continued in that position until he retired in 1994. Chuck worked in the quarries ever since his father first took him there as a small child. He often said that he thought he was playing when he filled his little buckets up with dirt, and it wasn’t until the buckets got bigger and heavier that he realized that this was not playing, but something much harder. He has also been pipemaking for 50 years, another skill passed down to him from his father. By continuing the quarrying and pipemaking, he followed in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and ancestors, who quarried prior to the 1860s.
Chuck was a lifelong adherent to traditional values and served on many Native American committees and Boards, dealing with various things regarding historical and traditional Native American issues. Not least of these issues involve the quarries, pipemaking and ceremonials. He has been to Washington, D.C. to testify to Congress on behalf of the Native Americans who use the Pipe. In recent years Chuck served as the elected spokesperson for the Pipestone Dakota Community.
Through the years of working with pipestone and making ceremonial pipes, Chuck associated with many Native American elders, spiritual leaders and medicine men. In 1998 he was adopted by the now late, Lakota Spiritual leader Joseph Flying Bye, which was a great honor. He was taught many things by Grandpa Joe as well as the spiritual leader, the late Amos Owens. By knowing these people and others, he learned a lot of cultural and spiritual lessons. Due to these ancient teachings, he was able to incorporate traditions into his everyday life, just as his ancestors did many years ago.
In recent years Chuck concentrated on the educational aspects of quarrying, pipe making and cultural awareness and presented the unique cultural educational program ‘Beads & Buckskins’ in both the United States and Europe with his wife and working partner Gloria since 1994. In the past two years Chuck filmed three DVD’s: one on Pipemaking, one on the history of the Pipestone area and the Pipe, and another that is being edited at the moment on quarrying.
Chuck was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in 2010, and although he had the disease he continued his educational practices for as long as he was able. Chuck continued to be a humble, passive, proletarian quietly working for Native American rights both in Pipestone and elsewhere. On Saturday, August 7, 2010, he died at the Little Feather Indian Center in Pipestone at the age of 69 years, five months and two days. He touched many people worldwide by his gentle, caring ways, and he will be greatly missed.
He is survived by his loving wife Gloria, daughter Diana (Richard ) Allen of Flandreau, South Dakota, and son Ray (Kelly) Derby of Springville, California; five sisters, Marge Parsons, Betty (Earl) Tellinghuisen, Alice (Gary) Erickson, Maddie (Ray) Redwing, and Carol Derby, all of Pipestone, Minnesota; and 15 grandchildren/step-grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, two infant children, and brother, Jeffrey (Little Feather).
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