Chester Wallace Horse

Chester Wallace Horse, 95, passed away on September 11, 2026, at the VA Hospital in Oklahoma City. He was honored as the oldest living male member of the Kiowa Tribe. The youngest child born in rural Carnegie, OK, on November 1, 1930, to Alice Agopetah Bert and Harry Roy Horse, he was preceded in death by his siblings David Livingston Horse, Stanley Wallace Horse, and Virginia Guerrero. His Kiowa name translates to "They all came to see him." He attended school in Alden, Carnegie, Meers, and Cache before enlisting in the U.S. Army, serving from 1949 to 1952. During the Korean War, he served as a paratrooper and was involved in several engagements.

Early in life, he worked with his brothers chopping wood, building fences, baling hay and harvesting pecans. They hunted and fished for their family's meals, procuring deer, elk, fish, turtles, and squirrels. As the youngest, he spent time watching his mother in the kitchen and became an excellent cook himself.

He married Beverly Johnson while in the military. They settled in Hutchinson, KS, and raised three daughters: Sonya Huntinghorse, Melanie (Steven) Wilke, and Melissa (Eugene) Sylvester. He worked at the Carey Salt Company and pursued seminary courses at nearby Sterling College, earning a degree in Education. He went on to work at the Kansas State Industrial Boys Reformatory and served as a PE teacher at Sherman Jr. High. He later worked as a counselor at an art institute in New Mexico, an Indian Center in Mississippi, and for the BIA in Oklahoma City.

Inspired as a young man by watching Murray Tone-Pah-Hote craft jewelry from a coin on a railroad tie, he later moved to Florida to devote himself full-time as a silversmith, creating a unique style of jewelry he considered a gift from God.

He later married Bette Kay Bates and returned to Hutchinson. She helped guide him closer to his faith, prayer, and scripture. Following her passing in 2018, he moved to Shawnee, OK.

He was preceded in death by his parents, siblings, wives, and grandparents: Albert (Keesa Doyebi) Horse and Willie (Martha Paddlety) Aonety Bert.

He is survived by his daughters; three stepsons; two stepdaughters; grandchildren Jesse Tahdooahnippah, Keesa (TJ) King, and Isaiah (Malinda), Elijah, and Gabriel Sylvester; great-grandchildren Reno Tahdooahnippah, Katlynn Church, Vincente Mondragon, Angelo Griego, and Malachi, Judah, and Shiloh Sylvester; an expected great-great-grandson; many beloved nieces and nephews; and his cousins Sam (Ruby) Horse, Perry (Eva) Horse, and Billy (Paula) Horse, Mike and Jerry Boyiddle, along with sister-in-law Carrie Horse.

Visitation Date: 2:00 p.m. ~ 8:00 p.m., Thursday, September 17, 2026

Ray & Martha's Funeral Home

Carnegie, Oklahoma

Funeral: 10:00 a.m., Friday, September 18th, 2026

Mount Scott Kiowa United Methodist Church

Lawton, Oklahoma

Interment: Saddle Mountain Cemetery

Mountain View, Oklahoma

Under the direction of Ray & Martha's Funeral Home, Carnegie, OK