Lillian Beane, a member of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe and the oldest member, celebrated her 97th Birthday August 27, 2008. The Grace Moore Senior Center’s staff Sara DeClerk and Sally Allen decorated the Center with balloons and flowers and ordered a birthday sheet cake for the occasion for all the “Seniors” to enjoy with Lillian at the noon lunch.
Lillian has three children: William “Bill” Beane and Linda Olsen, Flandreau and Sid Beane, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Lillian’s parents were Oliver & Grace (Eastman) Moore. Lillian was the great niece of Dr. Charles Eastman.
Lillian is very young for her age, she goes out to eat everyday at the Grace Moore Senior Center, goes to the Casino to eat and enjoys the slots once in awhile. Her favorite pass time is reading, going places and watching the news and basketball on television. Lillian is in very good health and is fun to visit.
Happy Birthday to our special Tribal elder-Lillian Beane!
Lillian Moore Beane
The daughter of Oliver Moore and Grace Eastman Moore, Lillian was born on August 27th, 1911  in her grandfather Rev. John Eastman’s home at Agency Village on the Sisseton Reservation, South Dakota. Rev. Eastman had been called to serve the Goodwill Presbyterian Church in 1906, after serving as the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Flandreau for 30 years. He was instrumental in getting the Flandreau Indian School located in Flandreau.
(Pictured to the right: Fannie Moore holding granddaughter Lillian (Moore) Beane )
When Lillian was 5 years old, Oliver and Grace went to Wolf Point, Montana to work at the Indian mission school. Lillian attended grades 1 – 8 at the Wolf Point Public School. Her parents worked and taught among the Assinaboine Tribe for eight years. She remembers fondly how generous the Assinaboine people were to her and her parents. One Christmas she was presented with the gift of a pony of her choosing.
After the death of Rev. John Eastman, the family moved back to Flandreau. They took care of Grace’s mother, Mary Jane Eastman, and grandmother, Nancy Faribault Huggin, both of whom lived to 91 years of age. Oliver taught agriculture at the Indian School, and was coach of the baseball team. Grace taught in the homemaking department, and later worked in the garment factory.
Lillian attended the Indian School, graduating in the first “senior” class of graduates in 1931. To her classmates she was known as “dink”, because she was so skinny. Twice a day she and others were marched out of class to the dining hall to take “special nourishment” for the skinny ones.
Following her graduation at Flandreau, Lillian attended St. Cloud State University, in St. Cloud, Minnesota for two years. At that time she was working towards a teaching degree.
Grace and Oliver transferred to the Wahpeton Indian School in Wahpeton, North Dakota in 1933. Lillian enrolled in the North Dakota State School of Science in Wahpeton, and graduated with a Business Degree in 1934. She was soon employed as the secretary in the business office of the new Indian Hospital at Sisseton, South Dakota.
In 1936, Lillian’s uncle, George Eastman, was elected as the first tribal president of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe. He served on the Executive Committee, in various positions, for nearly 20 years.
Following her marriage in 1938 to Sydney E. Beane, a member of the Yankton Tribe and a grandson of Blue Cloud, the last Yankton chief, they moved to Flandreau. Both were employed at the Indian School. Lillian served as secretary to the superintendent and kept records for the garment factory. Syd worked as a Boys Advisor and coached the Indian School basketball team. His team of 1939 won the State Class “A” Basketball Championship - a feat which has not been duplicated at the school.
In 1957, Lillian and Syd transferred to the Wahpeton Indian School so their three children, Linda and William who now live in Flandreau and Syd, Jr. who lives in Minneapolis, MN, could attend her alma mater, the State School of Science. Lillian worked as the secretary to the principal, and Syd was employed as an instructional aide in the boys dormitory.
After 32 years of service, Lillian retired from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1974. Syd had retired with 33 years of service in 1971. They resided in Wahpeton until they moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1975. They lived there until 1986, when they moved to Lincoln, Nebraska.
Upon her husband’s death in 1987, Lillian applied for HUD housing on the Flandreau Santee Sioux reservation. William moved with Lillian to her new home in the winter of 1990. Lillian wanted to move back to Flandreau so she could live out her retirement among the people she loves – relatives, friends, and tribal members.
She continues to be an active member of the First Presbyterian Church, and has attended every tribal meeting since she returned. She also continues to love basketball, the sport her husband had excelled in for so many years. -Submitted by William “Bill” Beane |
