Constance “Connie” Moccasin Top

All are welcome to join us with your horses to escort Connie from the Spirit of Life Four Square Church to the Crow Agency Cemetery. Funeral services 11:00 am Monday Oct. 18, 2021 at Spirit of Life Foursquare Church.

Constance Florence Moccasin Top, 61, of Crow Agency, Montana crossed the River Jordan on October 14, 2021. She was born on January 8, 1960, in Crow Agency to Gabriel and Lorraine (Real Bird) Moccasin, the youngest of nine children. Her Crow name, Akbawachimiihchexiiase (Well-known Teacher), was given to her by the late Josephine Russel. She was a true Whistling Water woman and a daughter of the Newly Made Lodge Clan. She attended Crow Public School and St. Labre High School. She later earned her GED and enrolled in the Billings Vo-Tech School and received her Associate of Arts degree in Administrative Assistance. She attended the Youth with a Mission Program in Neah Bay, Washington which was a discipleship training school.

Connie, as she was affectionately known as, had a quick wit about her and a contagious laughter. She enjoyed harassing and teasing her clan members. She was well known for her extravagant manner of dressing. She was a strong woman of many talents, chief among them, creating one of a kind beadwork in the old style of straight stitch, a talent she no doubt inherited from her mother and maternal grandmother. Her fierce loyalty to her siblings was evident when at the age of 10, after winning High Point Woman at the Crow Jr Hand Game Tournament, she immediately turned and gifted her older brother Wayne’s wife with all her prizes, including a saddle, Pendleton, money, and jewelry.

From her youth she found a love for horses and throughout her life she would harness that love to become an avid horsewoman. In 1978, Connie was a selected Crow Fair Rodeo Queen, winning a saddle. It would be this very saddle that she would later loan to her nieces, telling them “Go be a champion like me.” She was a member of the Horse Nations Indian Relay Council (HNIRC) and was devoted to the work of the council. With the support of Calvin and Carla Ghost Bear, Connie encouraged and supported her granddaughter Laci to participate in the Maiden Races with the team Lakota Warpath out of Pine Ridge, South Dakota. She travelled with her children and grandchildren to Ogden, Utah, Buffalo and Casper Wyoming and Busby for races. Laci rode “Gold Surge,” a horse trained by Connie. She also encouraged her grandson Randey Cole to participate in Indian Relay. He won the Professional Indian Horse Racing Association Pony Relay at the Champion of Champions in Billings before a crowd of 7,000 that did a standing ovation for him. A cowgirl through and through, Connie would continue to train horses every morning and night until the day she was admitted to the hospital.

In accordance with her Crow name, she was often the go-to aunty, mentoring and lending an ear to her nieces Judy, India, Theresa, Koty Bless, Shannon, Nicole, Annie Beth, Lady Bird, Michelle, Mandy, and Joann. Because of her love for her children, she raised her daughter’s children as her own and named her granddaughter Briel after her father. Aside from her love of horses and family, Connie’s faith was of the utmost importance as she often shared the word of God with those around her. She was a devout member of the Pentecostal Church and was a saved and born-again Christian. She was also an ordained minister. The guides on her spiritual journey to her Lord and Savior were Kenneth and Hannah Pretty on Top, Wayne and Kathy Not Afraid, and Pastor Wayne and Bella Gentry.

Philippians 3:13-14 “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high balling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Just as you would cheer on Randey and Laci, in your own words we say to you now… Cowgirl ride on! Lay low, tap ‘em and don’t look back! Your race is won.

She is preceded in death by her parents Gabriel and Lorraine Mocassin Top: siblings Harry, Veda, Nellie, and Wayne Mocassin and her sisters in-law Magdeline and Jane.

Connie is survived by her daughter Farah Red Star and son Holland Red Star; grandchildren Randey Cole Wolf Black, Laci Rides The Bear and Kendra Strikes First; sisters Joyce Top of the Moccasin, Helen Crooked Arm, Loretta Johnson, Lana Moccasin, Lena and Ella Beth Little Light, Janice Hudetz, Natalie and Mimi Real Bird, Jocelyn Costa, Ann and Andrea Costa, Jessica Yapunicich. Brothers Curtis and Barry Real Bird, Corn Little Light and Arnie Bends. Aunts Margo Real Bird, Victoria and Viana Morning and sisters in-law Kathy and Ramona Real Bird. Daughters Birdie, Rhea, Virginia “Girl” Real Bird and Lisa Stevens. Sons Kennard, Jimmy, Henry and Edward Real Bird. Special grandson Leander Real Bird. Her special friends, Linda Birdinground, Deanna Peters, Theo Ward, Melanie Little Wolf, Majel Russel, Margaret Gale Garner, Dave and Bonnie Graber, and Eric Tiner. Relay friends Dave Roundstone, Darren Charges Strong, Wade Gardner, Amanda and Darryl Big Hair. Her extended maternal family includes Real Bird, Medicine Tail, Not Afraid, Anderson, Bird Hat, Jefferson, Fire Bear-Costa, Coversup, Takes the Gun, Hoops, Deernose, Smells and Red Wolf. Her extended paternal family includes Yellowtail, White Man, Bright Wings, Red Star, Shane, Morning, Carpenter, Hunts the Arrow, Gros Ventre, Flatmouth, Mountain Pocket, Plain Left Hand, Plays, Greybull and Shane. Our family is large, please accept our apology if we have missed you in our time of grief.

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