Harold Culbertson
Harold James Culbertson passed away at the age of 83 on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, after a long battle with cancer.
Harold was born in 1937 in Poplar on the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Reservation to Harry Alexander Culbertson and Matilda Marie Culbertson (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate). The family lived on the reservation until 1943, then moved to Milton, Wash. They moved again to Vanport, Ore., in 1944, and escaped the 1948 Vanport flood with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They eventually settled in northwest Portland, Ore.
At the age of 15, Harold headed back to the reservation. He spent his sophomore and junior high school years in Poplar before heading back to Portland for his senior high school year. On his fourth day of college at Portland State University, Harold wandered into the military recruiting office. The Army and Navy recruiters were occupied so Harold enlisted in the Air Force. He spent four years in the service, including an 18-month period in Okinawa. Back in Portland, Harold re-enrolled in classes at Portland State and this time stuck with it, graduating in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree in business.
Harold met and married elementary school teacher Brenda Brown in Eugene, Ore., in 1967, six months after meeting her. They moved from Eugene to Lexington, Mass., where Harold earned his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1970. After two months in Albuquerque, the couple moved to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation where Harold worked as the executive director of Standing Rock Industries, and they had their first daughter, Kaydee. The Standing Rock Tribe gave Harold his name, Aŋpetu Teča Wičaša (New Day Man) because he created new business opportunities in the community.
In 1972, Harold, Brenda and Kaydee moved to Portland, Ore., where Amy was born, then to Seattle, Wash., where Harold earned his Ph.D. in business (organization management) from the University of Washington in 1977, at which time the family moved to Edmonds, Wash. Armed with his Ph.D. and a CPA certification, Harold started his own accounting firm and worked with tribes in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Montana and Oklahoma.
In 1990, Harold accepted a position as a professor of accounting at Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minn. He traveled to the Cass Lake and Red Lake reservations to teach accounting courses at their community college and worked with Fort Peck as a comptroller for several years. He and Brenda retired from Minnesota in 2006, to move closer to their first grandchild (and her parents) in Albuquerque. To his delight, his three grandsons (and their parents) moved to Albuquerque in 2014.
Harold was known for his sense of humor, generosity and gentleness. He was a devout Catholic, guitar player and devoted family man who enjoyed spending his time with relatives playing dice or card games, laughing and joking. A storyteller, who loved to say “stop me if you’ve heard this before,” and kept talking over all protests and objections.
Harold is survived by Brenda, his wife of 54 years, his daughter Kaydee Culbertson, her partner, Phil Begay and their daughter, Elana; his daughter, Amy Armistad, her husband, Chris, and their sons, Will, Devon and Sam. He is also survived by his sisters, Jo Zollinger, Karen Harvey and Gloria Culbertson, and many other cousins, nieces, nephews and other relatives. He is predeceased by his sister, Joyce Nelson, and his brothers, David, Olly, Joe and Pierre.
There was a public viewing on Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021, from 5-7 p.m. at French-Westside.
(Paid Obituary)
