Denise Ann Quitiquit
Sept. 9, 1950 – May 28, 2018
Denise was born in Stockton, Calif. She is preceded in death by parents, Claro and Marie Boggs Quitiquit; brothers, Adrian Conrad and Lawrence Monroe Thompson; and sisters, Luwana Fay Quitiquit and Patricia Ann Thompson.
She is survived by her only child, daughter Meyokeeskow Marrufo; son-in-law, Randy Marrufo; grandsons, Adrian and Cedric Marrufo; brothers, Marion Sr., Steven, Godfrey, Michael and Robert Quitiquit; sisters, Cheryl Calif, Wanda Quitiquit, Lalaine Buoncristiani and Irenia Quitiquit; and generations of nieces and nephews.
She grew up on Union Island in the San Joaquin Delta and labored in the agricultural fields with her parents and siblings. She attended David Bixler School and graduated from Tracy Joint Union High School, she then attended Delta College after graduation.
Denise received a BA degree from University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s from Humboldt State University. She worked at the American Indian Contemporary Arts Gallery and the Foundation for Deep Ecology. She served as an education director for Sacramento Indian Education Center, Robinson Rancheria and at Hopland Rancheria. She believed in the importance of educating our people and knowing your Indian history and culture.
As an activist, along with her late sister Luwana, she was among the first group that occupied Alcatraz Island in 1969. In 1996, she joined the “Longest Walk-Free Leonard Peltier” and walked from California to Washington, DC. During that time on her travels to New York, she was invited to read the poetry of Jack Kerouac at an annual festival.
She had many interests and reading was one of her favorite things to do. Denise loved her family and her culture. She worked with her daughter on regalia making for dancers. She showed her love through beading, weaving, sewing, gardening, picking fruit and home canning to the delight of her family and friends.
We will miss her sense of humor, her intelligence, and her way of putting others first.
Her family is respecting her wishes for private services.
Arrangements by Chapel of the Lakes Mortuary, 707-263-0357 or 707-994-5611, or visit www.chapelofthelakes.com.
