Candace Marie Blackbird-Hubbard

Candace Marie Blackbird-Hubbard was a true daughter of Montana. Born and raised on the Ft. Belknap reservation to Dorothy Marie Azure and George Lincoln Blackbird, she was one of eight children, Donald (Sherry) Azure, Linda Blackbird, Connie Blackbird-deceased, Carol (Muck) Short-deceased, Ernest Courchane-deceased, Richard Blackbird-deceased, and Mike Blackbird-deceased. As a child, her family relocated to Mont Royal where she spent her youth helping to raise Donald, Connie, Tito, and Baby Ernie. Frequently, she would load up the kids and follow the telephone poles, walking the kids from Mont Royal, across the racetrack, to Grandma Mary Azure’s house in Black Eagle. She would also spend some time living with Grandma Ethel and Grandpa Dick Azure. With the backdrop of rolling hills, the Smokestack, and the lights of Great Falls, she would spend as much time as she could with Grandma Mary and playing with her favored cousin, Bobby Azure. She would often accompany Grandma Mary to the grocery store in Black Eagle where she and Grandma would have to give the clerk the shopping list and wait outside because Indians weren’t allowed in the grocery store.

In early adulthood, she met and married Don Lott, and had two sons, Michael (Christina) Lee Lott and DJ (Beverly) Lott. In a heart wrenching decision, she moved with her two sons to Texas to be near Don’s family, but Montana and family always tugged at her heart. Eventually, with a promise from Grandma Dorothy to stop drinking if she came home, she packed up the boys, and with just enough money for bus fare, they took a bus from Texas back to Montana.  (She often told the story of how the bus had a transfer/stop at a restaurant along the way. At the restaurant, she and her two young sons sat at a booth, and she ordered water because she did not have money for food or even a drink. DJ had one bottle of milk left and Mama was using it sparingly. A man approached and inquired about the boys. She said he was very friendly and upon leaving said, “You’re doing the right thing. Take care of Michael and DJ.”  As he walked away, she realized that she hadn’t told the man the boys’ names. Minutes later, the waitress brought over food for mom and Michael, and milk for DJ. She said the food was from the man and gave her $20 he had left for her too along with some wrapped sandwiches for the remainder of their travel). Finally, back in beautiful Montana, she thrived living with Grandma Dorothy who stayed true to her word and stopped drinking. Unfortunately, it was shortly after she moved home that Grandma Dorothy passed from an aneurysm.

As life moved forward, she met and married John Hubbard. They had Angie (Joe) Williams, the twins—Suzie (Shane) Bliler and Cindy Hubbard, and the most spoiled child in the world, Russell John Hubbard. Their life was not good, and when they divorced, it took her a minute to get on her feet. When she did, she became a whirlwind. Without a high school diploma, she attained her GED, then attended beauty school. In Parkdale, the kids would line up outside our door to get haircuts from “Aunty Candace.”  She never wanted us to go without, ever! She learned to sew so that she could make boxing trunks for DJ and Russell…and eventually the whole boxing club. She handcrafted elegant dance regalia for Cindy, Suzie, and Angie. This led to her teaching classes on dress making at Longfellow Elementary where her children attended school. The family lived in abject poverty, but it did not often feel like it. The family went without a lot because raising 6 kids on your own without any financial support was overwhelming, but Candace made it work. Christmases were literal magic. I say literally because every year she would warn us that there was not much money for presents. She would caution us against getting our hopes up, but she would make it up to us by baking. God, she could bake! Then, come Christmas morning, she would somehow pull it off year after year. It did not look like other kids’ Christmases. Instead of real Cabbage Patch Kids or Care Bears, Mama would have sewn us her own version, but we loved those gifts as if they were the real thing.
Candace was the greatest woman who ever lived, and no one will convince the family otherwise. There was not anything she could not do, and very little she didn’t do. She was kind and forgiving almost to a fault. She gave advice only because she had endured so much and did not want others to have to go through the trials she had. Her goal with anybody and everybody was to help them find happiness. She went from living in a shack on Mont Royal with a dirt floor to attaining her Master’s Degree and owning her own home. She was extremely proud of her yard and gardened religiously. She kicked this bad world’s ass, and the light of the land has diminished with her absence. We will remember her with the scent of sweet Montana rains. We will remember her with the first gentle snowfall and the warm lick of spring’s first light. We will never stop thinking about the softness of her tiny hands or the strength of her mighty heart.

Rest easy, sweet Mama, and watch us make you proud.

A funeral service and reception will both be held on Sunday, June 23, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. at the New Do located at 1800 3rd St NW.  To contribute to services please PayPal the family at [email protected] .