Norman Joseph Mackey, Sr 1933 - 1998

FRAZIER, MACKEY, NYREEN

Posted By: Connie Swearingen- Volunteer (email)
Date: 2/14/2017 at 10:21:21

Sioux City Journal
15 March 1998

Norman Joseph Mackey, Sr., 64, of Sioux City died Thursday March 12, 1998, at a Sioux City nursing home following an extended illness.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Paul’s Indian Mission with the Rev. F. David Titus officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be 2 to 9 p.m. today with the family present from 6 to 8 p.m. and a prayer service at 7 p.m. at Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel.

Mr. Mackey was born on May 24, 1933, in Niobrara, Nebraska, the son of John B. and Rachel W. (Frazier) Mackey. He graduated from Flandreau Indian School in 1951. He attended Morningside College and the University of South Dakota. He married Diane Nyreen in February 1965, in LaVerne, Minnesota. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1952, serving as a medic with the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War. He was discharged in Oct. 1956, and became a member of the 155th Rifle Company USMCR. Upon closure of that unit, he transferred to the 185th Tactical Fighter Group where he served as a medic. In 1968, he was called to active duty with the 185th TFG. He retired as a Master Sergeant after 32 years of military service. He was awarded the U.S. Air Force Reserve Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal and the China Service Medal.

In 1959, he joined the Sioux City Police Department and was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 1970. He worked all three watches of the Uniform Services Bureau as well as the traffic, youth and investigative bureaus. He retired from the police department in 1993 and was later employed by Winne Vegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa.

He was an enrolled member of the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska. He was also a member of the Woodbury County Community Action Agency Board of Directors from 1988 to 1997, serving on various committees with an emphasis on housing for low-income people. He was a member of St. Paul’s Indian Mission. He was instrumental in establishing the Siouxland Community Health Clinic which provides free health services to low-income persons in the community. He was also president of the board of the Native American Alcohol Treatment Program.

Survivors include his ex-wife, three sons, Michael, Norman Jr. and his fiancé, Shelley Watson and Daniel off of Sioux City, two daughters and their husbands, Lori and Randy Eilers of Ankeny, Iowa, and Julie and Jeff Brown of Sioux City, three grandchildren, Micaela and Keaton Eilers, and Tyler Brown, four brothers, Willard P. Sr., of Niobrara, John E. Sr. of Portland, Ore., Clement of Santee, Nebraska and Duane of Vermillion, S.D. and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, Robert B., Sr., and a son, Chad S.

Pallbearers will be Doug Snodgrass, Randy Eilers, Pat Fleming, Bob Bean, John Zook and James Mackey.

A memorial has been established in his name to benefit the Sioux City Police Department’s K-9 Unit.