Valentina Blackhorse, a young and vibrant mother from the Navajo Nation, died on April 23, 2020.
Blackhorse served as Miss Dine College from 2011-2012. She also held the title of Miss Western Navajo in 2016.
Continuing a tradition of service to her people, Blackhorse most recently worked for the Dennehotso Chapter of the Navajo Nation, located on the Arizona portion of the reservation.Blackhorse was well known in pageant circles in Indian Country. She competed for Miss Indian World in 2017. Ms. Blackhorse was born on Sept. 2, 1991, in Tuba City, Ariz., to Danny and Laverne Blackhorse. Her father was a coal miner, her mother a cook. A former Miss Western Navajo, she had also previously held the titles Miss Monument Valley High School and Miss Diné College. She won those titles while starting a family and a career as a public servant, even as she grappled with rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that might have heightened her risk of dying from Covid-19.
In addition to her parents, Mr. Jones and her sister Vanielle, she is survived by her 1-year-old daughter, Poet Bessie Blackhorse, and another sister, Victoria.
As seen in the New York Times – Lives We’ve Lost