Compiled from news and staff reports
United Methodists in the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference and across the denomination are mourning the death of Zora Susanne "Susie" Aikman, a Native American leader in both church and public media, who died June 21 after a long battle with cancer. She was 69. A memorial service was held for her on July 3 at Wheat Ridge UMC in Colorado.
A member of the Eastern Band Cherokee, Ms. Aikman was best known among Native Americans for her radio show, AlterNative Voices, which launched the careers of several Native musicians and artists. She served three years as the associate director of graphics media with UMR Communications in the early 1990s. Later she worked as a floor director for Colorado Public Television for more than 20 years.
Ms. Aikman served on the UMC's Native American International Caucus and was instrumental in fostering repentance and reconciliation between the church and the Northern and Southern Cheyenne over the Sand Creek Massacre. She located the burial site of Silas Soule, the officer who defied orders from Col. John Chivington, a Methodist lay pastor, to attack a Cheyenne village of mostly women and children at Sand Creek. Soule's documentation and testimony of the atrocity led to congressional investigation. Ms. Aikman notified the Northern and Southern Cheyenne of Soule's burial site and led an honor ceremony over his grave.
Many United Methodists and Native Americans met Ms. Aikman at pow wows, through NAIC, and at festivals and church events where she sold books and music. She was the author of "A Primer: The Art of Native American Beadwork" and many of her friends cherish the beaded jewelry and other items she created for them.
Information for this article was taken from Ms. Aikman's obituary on the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference website, and from Insight coordinator Cynthia B. Astle, who was Ms. Aikman's friend and UMR colleague.