Family remembers Reece Morsette

Annie Morsette said that ever since he was a small child, her grandson Reece was always eager to assist her and her husband.

"He just loved to do what he could to help even though he was only 4 years old," Morsette said. She said she recalled how when he was about four years old he would be do all he could to help out his grandfather who had been in poor health. He would grab a water from the refrigerator and eagerly perform errands for him, she said.

After her husband died in 2006, she said, he and his brother  would tell their parents to stop at her house when they were in the car with their parents because she couldn't be alone. Both Reece Morsette and his brothers lived with Annie Morsette from 2006 on.

Last Thursday, Reece Morsette, 15,  died after he fainted while playing a game of basketball at Stone Child College's Little Bear Gymnasium on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation. He died despite efforts of his family and paramedics to revive him en route to Northern Montana Hospital.

The family said  the cause of death remains unknown as of today.

They reminisced this week about Reece.

"He was always the one that was sitting on the couch talking with me all the time because the  other boys were so quiet," Annie Morsette said of the youth whom she raised and  referred to as her partner.

Reece Morsette died just a few weeks shy of  what would have been his 16th birthday.

He was slated to begin his junior year of high school at Box Elder.

His aunt Kaycee Henry said that she was helping him start to study for the test to get his driver's licence.

"He had such a future," she said.

Reecee Morsette was born in 2000 in Havre.

Family and friends say he was outgoing and able to easily make friends.

One of his closest friends, Tristan Bernard, had known him since about sixth grade. Bernard said that for a time they lived only 400 feet apart.

He said Morsette helped cheer him up and make him laugh after Bernard was emerging from a difficult relationship.

Throughout the life of their friendship, Bernard said, they would regularly spend time together, playing basketball, riding steers and walking everywhere together.

"We didn't care that we didn't have a car or nothing," Bernard said. " We would walk everywhere, walk miles, miles and miles."

Morsette was also an avid athlete who his relative said was always active.

He played basketball, ran on the cross country team and played football when he briefly attended Rocky Boy.

Annie Morsette said it was always exciting - and sometimes frightening - to watch, given his small stature. She said that she had team photos of her grandson on the football team with other, larger team members towering behind him.

"When he would go in he would always give 100 percent, but it was kind of scary for him because he was the smallest kid. But he was right in there. He didn't give up," she said.  

Another of Reece Morsette's biggest passions was rodeo.  

Annie Morsette said Reece began rodeoing when he was about 12 years old. He started out riding steers before eventually moving up to junior bulls.

He would regularly travel competing  on the Indian rodeo scene both throughout Montana and in Canada.

He won a relay race in Canada and last September won first prize in the Fort Peck 2015 rodeo. For his victory he was awarded a belt buckle and a little more than $300.

Reece was also into fishing and hunting.

But Annie Morsette said in April he sustained a head injury while playing basketball during a tournament at the Little Bear Gymnasium.

He was taken to Northern Montana Hospital before being taken to the hospital in Great Falls, where he was held for what relatives said was about seven or eight days in the intensive care unit, including having a CAT scan.

Annie Morsette said doctors determined he sustained a severe concussion and he was not supposed to engage in any rigorous physical activity, something that irked Reece.

She said her grandson was fairly upset about being unable to play sports or compete in rodeo, but his family members wouldn't sign the consent forms for him needed to compete in rodeo competitions.

After his injury, Reece began attending school again for a couple hours each day, gradually regaining his strength.

Morsette said that earlier this month, her sister put up half the entry fee to compete in the Ultimate Warrior Contest during Rocky Boy's 52nd annual celebration.

His efforts brought him a third-place win in the competition.

Though he was her smallest grandson, Annie Morsette said, Reece was the most mighty one.

"Even for a couple of us, it was a scary thing to know that he went and did that, but he was really proud that he took third and gave it his all like he always did," she said.

Melody Henry, Reece's grandmother  said that this past summer, Reece had also been working for K&A Construction where he did  remodeling of homes, laid carpet and helped build a deck.

She said he was a quick learner, helping lay the carpet at a cousin's house after just recently learning how to do it.

Henry said that he was a hard worker and always very independent.

Now that he is gone, Reece Morsette's family said, there is a void in their lives that will be difficult to fill.

"He was that guy that was always there, always that guy who would always find a way to make you laugh. He was just up there for you," Kaycee Henry said.

Henry said she remembers last year, when she graduated from Salish Kotenai Community College, she was rushing about and it was her nephew who was there  to help her out. Reece dropped her off there and parked her car.

That day, when she was walking across the stage to accept her degree, she looked down into the front row of the audience to see Reece taking pictures of that moment with her cellphone.

"He was just there," she said. "He never backed down, he never shied away. Being in his presence just made life that much more happy."