Skip Sandman, an Anishinaabe spiritual healer, dies at 68

DULUTH — Ray "Skip" Sandman was the kind of Anishinaabe spiritual healer who wouldn't turn away those seeking help, despite occasional criticism for tending to people of all races.

"He was true to his gift," and his ability to heal came from the Creator, who sent these people to him, said his wife of 32 years, Babette Sandman.

"He was considered a go-between," she said. "It wasn't for him to control. He knew who [his abilities] belonged to and [they] didn't belong to him. He was just carrying it for the people."

The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa citizen, U.S. Navy and Army veteran, retired corrections officer and traditional healer who twice ran for Congress died Oct. 30 in Duluth. He was 68.

Sandman, part of the legendary northern Minnesota Beargrease family, was born in Toledo, Ohio, to Ray Sandman and Josephine Beargrease Sandman, and soon moved to the Fond du Lac Reservation. At 17, he enlisted in the Navy for the Vietnam War, serving two tours of duty. He worked 25 years as a corrections officer for the Northeast Regional Corrections Center and, after retirement, worked for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and then the Native American-run Mash-Ka-Wisen treatment center as a healer and spiritual adviser.

Most recently, he'd been part of the Fond du Lac Band's cultural center, facilitating sweat lodges and talking circles.

As a Green Party candidate, Sandman ran to represent the Eighth Congressional District in 2014, and again in 2018 for the Independence Party. It was as much about representation for Indigenous people as it was about winning, said Babette.

He was inspired to run after an unshakable dream where children, swimming in a body of water, asked him what he intended to leave them. He interpreted it as a question about the future of natural resources, like water, she said.

He was "doing the talking and walking and showing people you can do this — it doesn't always have to be the dominant culture doing this," Babette said.

Sandman's daughter, Alicia Kozlowski, is running for the Minnesota House 8B seat. Sandman guided Kozlowski when considering whether to run.

"What drove him is that his heart beat for the people," Kozlowski said. "That's how we — Anishinaabe people — would identify who is a leader. Someone with a heart that is seven layers thick, who can withstand the piercing of your heart in these spaces of a leader."

Sandman also ran for City Council in Duluth and served on the city's Indigenous Commission. He was resolute in his beliefs, and influenced many, said Philip DeFoe, a family friend who saw him as a father figure.

"When he ran for Congress, I thought he was out of his mind," he said. "He made me a believer. ... And he shook the other parties up, is what he did."

Sandman, who painted and had a black belt in Okinawan karate, taught his children to "live life like an otter," Kozlowski said.

"Otters work really hard, but they play a lot and don't take themselves so seriously," Kozlowski said. "There is space for joy and the good things in life ... When people would come and see him for his gift as a healer, they would often ask, 'What's wrong with me?' He'd say, 'You need love, you need joy, you deserve those things in your life.'"

Sandman is survived by his wife, Babette; daughters Kristy, Megan, Govinda, Alicia and Miranda, and sons Nathan, Daniel and Joe; 14 grandchildren, one great-grandchild and several foster children. Traditional Midewiwin services have been held.