Jody Faye LeCompte-Garrison of Albuquerque, New Mexico, passed away from natural causes on September 11, 2026.

Jody was born May 6, 1958, in Gettysburg, South Dakota, to Gordon Vincent LeCompte and Patricia Katherine Lafferty of Eagle Butte. An enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, she grew up on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation and attended Cheyenne-Eagle Butte School (CEB).

It was there that she met her high school sweetheart, Gary Evan Garrison, who moved to Eagle Butte the summer before their freshman year. They were friends first. Then, as they were about to begin their junior year, Gary asked Jody to go steady while the two were high above the Sioux Tribal Fair midway on the Ferris wheel.

They graduated from CEB in 1976, both members of the National Honor Society. Jody was also a CEB cheerleader and went on to attend the University of South Dakota. She and Gary married August 12, 1977, in Rapid City and honeymooned traveling through the Black Hills. On August 12, 2026, they celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary.

Their daughter, Yvette Marie, was born in 1978 in Eagle Butte, followed by Zachary Evan in 1989 in Yankton, South Dakota, and Samuel Alexander in 1996 in Lincoln, Nebraska. All three are enrolled members of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Jody was feisty and open-hearted. She believed in people and had a way of making you feel bigger than you thought you were. That quality became the thread running through her career.

Her work with Native people began in Vermillion, South Dakota, where she served on the Indian Parent Committee. When the family moved to Lincoln, Jody became a Home School Liaison for Lincoln Public Schools. From 1993 to 1996, she worked with Native students and helped them achieve the highest graduation rate in Lincoln Public Schools history.

In Albuquerque, Jody became GED Coordinator at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute. In 1998, 31 of the 33 students she worked with earned their GEDs.

When Gary accepted a job in Washington, D.C., in 1999, off they went again, and Jody began what became a 25-year federal career with Indian Affairs. She worked directly with tribes and tribal organizations throughout Indian Country, helping create training and employment opportunities for Native people. Among the programs she oversaw, 445 Native men and women found jobs and became members of trade unions.

The numbers mattered because the people behind them mattered to Jody. Many of the people she met through her work became lasting friends.

In 2016, Jody transferred back to Albuquerque, the city she had come to love. She finished her federal career as a grants manager for the Bureau of Indian Education and retired on December 15, 2024.

For all she gave to others through her work, Jody's greatest love was her family. She loved her children fiercely and was proud of the people they became.

She also knew how to enjoy simple things. Give Jody a Diet Coke, a bag of Lay's Potato Chips and a place in front of the television and she was happy. She loved romantic movies, OU sports, professional sports and whatever reality TV show happened to be on at that time.

Jody was preceded in death by her parents, Gordon Vincent LeCompte and Patricia Katherine Lafferty.

She is survived by Gary, her high school sweetheart and husband of 49 years; her children, Yvette Marie (Mike) Rock of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Zachary Evan Garrison and Samuel Alexander Garrison, both of Albuquerque; and her only-and therefore, as Jody would have it, her most favorite-grandson, Coltyn Jameson Garrison of Albuquerque. She is also survived by her younger siblings, Jackie Black of Billings, Montana; and Marty LeCompte, Connie Wilkie and Robin Parkes, all of Aberdeen, South Dakota.

A visitation will be held on Friday, October 2, 2026, at FRENCH – Westside Chapel at 3:00 p.m. Jody loved Albuquerque and the New Mexico life she made there. She will be cremated, and in time, her ashes will be released into the wind from the Sandia Crest, overlooking the city she came to call home.