Nathan Standing Bear

Richard Joseph Nathaniel Rouse, better known as Nathan Standing Bear, died Feb. 24, 2017. He was 67.

Born July 2, 1949, to Warren C. Rouse and Dorothea Joy (Kennedy) Rouse, in Lafayette, Ind., he died at Chi Saint Alexius Hospital in Bismarck, N.D.

Raised in a military family, Nathan grew up in Chapel Hill, N.C., where he expressed his dissatisfaction in the college prep-school culture of corduroy and cardigan uniforms. His nature and soul soared in the next environment he experienced when his father was transferred to the Kwajalein Marshall Islands . It was there he became acquainted with indigenous island natives and tribal culture. He would often reminisce about fishing in the reefs, boating to nearby islands, surfing coral reef waves, and cooking fish in open fires pits on pristine beaches with kind, indigenous natives who embraced and enjoyed his presence.

In his late teens he headed for the West Coast on his own. At one point in his journey, he became snowbound high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, where he persevered through heavy blizzard conditions for four months, heating his cabin with wood chopped with an axe after the chain saw failed after the first week.

Nathan arrived in South Lake Tahoe in 1970, where he resided for a time in a teepee on the Amacker Ranch. Becoming a skilled carpenter specializing in log work, he made Tahoe his home for the remainder of his life.

He became an accomplished pen and ink/watercolor artist. He also managed several properties throughout the 190’s and early 2000,s on Jameson Beach where he resided on the shore of Lake Tahoe for about 18 years.

Nathan was the founder, creator, and organizer of a group known as One Earth Family. He drew together hundreds of people from all over the globe.

Nathan was an Earth and nature lover with an intense appreciation of birds and all living creatures. He respected Mother Earth as the source of life and rallied against those who view the Earth as a trove of resources to be exploited for profit at the expense of planetary well-being. He spent the last five months of his life on the front lines of Standing Rock, N.D.

Nathan is survived by his, mother, Joy Rouse and his sister Robin Rouse Caviness.

Services will be at later time.