Camillia Caroline Bullock, an elder of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, died on September 22, 20I7, after a long illness. She was 89.
Caroline, “Sister,” “Ruthie,” “Aunt Sis,” and “Aunt Caroline” were among the names by which she was known. Born February 15, 1928, on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation to Shinnecock parents Lillian (Lee) and Harry Williams, she had five siblings, the late Vivian Carle, and Alice Franklin, and brothers Arthur Thomas Williams, the late Harry Williams, and Donald Williams. She attended the Shinnecock Reservation School, Southampton High School and then ventured into New York City, where she met and married Brookland Bullock (a Merchant Marine and later a postal worker). They raised their two sons in Brooklyn. She was a working wife and mom, who was occupied in retail sales at Alexander’s Department Store and also served her co-workers as an “employee representative.”
She was a lifelong Presbyterian, having been reared in the Shinnecock Presbyterian Church, and became active in Brooklyn’s Siloam Presbyterian Church and, later after she and her husband moved to the Bay Ridge neighborhood, Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Always an active volunteer, upon retiring and returning to the Shinnecock Reservation, she joined the Shinnecock Health Committee, the Powwow Hospitality Committee, and organized and led the honoring of veterans at annual Memorial Day ceremonies at the Shinnecock flagpole, and joined the Elder’s Council.
Throughout her life she formed and maintained many valued friendships, she cared for family through times of illness, supported youth programs, and also enjoyed traveling and hosting family celebrations, sharing good food and laughter. She leaves a legacy of love, service and celebration of faith, family, culture and community, survivors said.
Mrs. Bullock is survived by two sons, Duane Colbert Bullock of the Shinnecock Indian Reservation and Theodore Daniel Bullock and wife Faith of Virginia; grandchildren, Jaserae Louise of California, Papasequa Colbert of Louisiana, Brookland Alikia Bullock, Liwanu Dwain Bullock, all of the Shinnecock Indian Reservation, Preston Bullock of Brooklyn, Theodore Daniel Bullock Jr. of Virginia, and Leah Bullock, stationed at the U.S. Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia; two brothers, Arthur Thomas Williams and Donald Williams and wife Joan, all of Shinnecock; and two godchildren, James W. Eleazer Jr. and Vivian Caroline (Carle) Courtenay, also of Shinnecock, and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. She was predeceased by daughter-in-law Jeanninne Garrison Bullock.
Funeral arrangements were under the direction of the Brockett Funeral Home in Southampton.
on Oct 2, 2017