Path Chosen

About the Book

This is my story of my memories, thoughts, and interpretations that I made from my experiences starting at the beginning of my age of awareness. I grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota where I faced living in two different cultures to the time I joined the U.S. Army. My story is not about the accumulation of wealth or being famous or being some savior. It is about a simple dream. My story starts from the time I remember reaching the age of awareness to the present. I do not claim to be a writer, so my story may not be a well-planned or polished literary work that meets all the high standards of writing. The story is about being on a path out of poverty. I was raised by my grandparents from a baby to the time I joined the U.S. Army. For some reason my mother left me to be raised by her parents. They were poor people, seasonal laborers, who lived with a strong belief in their God. We lived in a two-room shack with tarpaper siding that had not inside toilet, running water or electricity. That was our home. They were always short of money to buy necessities and usually faced hunger. However they were a good couple and had a faith to believe in God. However I was fortunate to get a good education and had the opportunity to join the army for a career. I experienced new horizons that exposed me to new learning’s that tempered my attitude. I wish to share my experiences and thoughts from traveling along a path chosen with especially the Lakota youth and the non-Lakota youth what have written in this book. Pilamaya—Thank you

About the Author

Delane Quiver-Boyer is an Oglala Lakota of the Great Sioux Nation who was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. His mother, Stella Quiver, put him as a baby with her parents to be raised. His grandparents, Esther Standing Bear-Quiver and Thomas Quiver, raised him from an infant to adulthood living in the culture of the Oglala people. In the beginning of his life, the Lakota language was his first language spoken with his grandparents and his extended family on the reservation. He made a transition to speaking English when he started school and also his mother spoke to him in English. He started his schooling at the Indian Day School in Wanblee, SD, and then went to the public school off the Reservation in Kadoka where he graduated from high school then on to college. At South Dakota State University, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree majoring in Agronomy. He also was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He served in the Army for twenty years. He had military assignments in seven foreign countries including two tours in the Vietnam War where he served with the Special Forces and with the Vietnamese Rangers. He retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Delane earned a Master’s Degree and a Doctorate Degree in Education from North Carolina State University after he retired from the military. He now lives in Raleigh, NC, with his devoted wife Maddalena.