Tillie Cavanaugh; Co-Founded Native American Service Group

Tillie Cavanaugh, one of the founders of the American Indian Women's Service League, credited with spawning a network of agencies to serve Indians in the Seattle area, has died.

Mrs. Cavanaugh, 78, died Sunday at Providence Hospital of complications from diabetes.

Born on the reservation at Fort Totten, N.D., Mrs. Cavanaugh was a member of the Devil's Lake Sioux Tribe and devoted much of her life to improving the living conditions of Native Americans who left the reservation and found themselves adrift in the city.

Mrs. Cavanaugh left the reservation in the early '40s and moved to Seattle, where she worked as a welder during World War II.

After the war, she sent for her children from the reservation and returned her attention to raising her family, said her daughter, Darlene Joseph.

In 1958, she and several other Native American women in Seattle formed the service league, which provided clothing, food and other social services to Native Americans.

Camille Monzon, executive director of the Seattle Indian Center, said the league's members laid the groundwork for the other agencies that now serve the Native American community, including the center, the Seattle Indian Health Board and the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation.

As the new agencies formed, Mrs. Cavanaugh continued her work with them, devoting much of her efforts to the Seattle Indian Center, where she was a longtime volunteer. She had a reputation as a good cook and was often asked to come to events to make the traditional fry bread.

The mother of eight children, Mrs. Cavanaugh was also the foster parent of dozens more, said her daughter.

Some were the children of friends who stayed for a short time when their parents couldn't care for them. Some stayed for years and remain a part of the family. ``She just loved children,'' said Joseph.

She was raised a Catholic at a time when children from the reservation were sent to a boarding school and punished for speaking in their native language.

Joseph said her mother resented the practice of removing the children from their families and their culture but that she was not bitter about it.

She remained a Catholic, raised her children in the religion but taught them to be proud of their heritage. She made regular trips back to the reservation to show her grandchildren the traditions, Joseph said.

In addition to Joseph, of Everett, Mrs. Cavanaugh is survived by five other children: Paul Cavanaugh of Fort Totten, N.D.; Stanley Bluehorse of Kent; Kenny Cavanaugh and Patricia Sula of Seattle; and Carol Parry of Tacoma. She also is survived by a sister, Lumana Cloak of Poplar, Mont., and a brother, the Rev. Paul Firecloud of Sisseton, S.D.

A wake will be held at the Daybreak Star Center in Discovery Park at 6 p.m. tomorrow. The funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton. Following the funeral, a dinner will be held at the Seattle Indian Center, 611 12th Ave. S.