Lekshi John Around Him died two months ago. He was an Oglala Lakota elder and spiritual leader who taught Lakota language and culture for many years at Little Wound High School and Oglala Lakota College in Kyle, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Uncle John, as he was known to many people on and off the Rez, died of cancer in his home near Last Horse Creek surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During his lifetime he taught me, and many other people, the Lakota sweat lodge songs, and his 1982 recordings of the songs are still the best comprehensive record of the traditional form of the Lakota inipi songs. I wanted to write an informal eulogy for Lekshi John to try to get at the significance of both his life and his death.