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    Chester Revoir Ottogary (1908–1987)

    Chester Revoir Ottogary was a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a boxing champion, a leader of his people, and a decorated veteran of World War II. He served his community in spiritual and temporal capacities throughout his life and provided for his family throughout the Great Depression and wartime as a farmer and laborer. Chester was born to Willie Ottogary and Nancy Smith on 30 January 1908 in Washakie, Utah.1 He was raised in the Washakie/Elwood area of Box Elder County, Utah, by his father, Willie, after his parents’ divorce in 1916.2 As a young man, he began a boxing career in 1926 competing against other athletes in the Intermountain West, boxing as “Kickapoo Dan.”3 He gained fame boxing in bouts alongside his brother, Custer, and was Utah lightweight champion in 1927 and intermountain champion in 1928.4 He probably received compensation for his fistic bouts, but he worked as a farmer and laborer in the Washakie area and, after working to bring irrigation to Washakie, left his name etched in the cement of the Samaria Canal near the Washakie townsite.5

    Chester spent his teenage years attending the Elwood Ward with his family and began attending the Washakie Ward full time after his father died in 1929.6 As an adult in the Washakie Ward, Chester served as first assistant of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association and as a ward teacher, tasked with visiting ward members and checking on their welfare.7 He regularly participated in church meetings and performed important duties like the baptisms of various members of the ward.8

    On 1 January 1928, Chester married Vida Pubigee, who was raised in the Washakie Ward.9 Together they had four children, three of whom survived to adulthood: Clyde (1929–2005), Effie (1931–1961), and Ernest (1934–1962).10 Nearly nine months after the birth of their last child, Ernest, Vida died of myocarditis on 12 February 1935.11 Shortly after her death, Chester decided to leave his hometown of Washakie and move closer to his mother at Bannock Creek, Idaho, on the Fort Hall Reservation, so that she could aid him in raising his three children.12 He married Bessie May Nanakey in 1964, but they divorced after only two years.13

    On 14 January 1943, Chester was inducted into the United States Army to serve during World War II. He saw battle in the Pacific Theater at the isle of New Guinea and received the Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic Pacific Service Medal, American Theatre Service Medal, Philippine Liberation Medal, and Bronze Service Star.14 During his time in the army, he tried to leverage his distinguished service as an Indigenous soldier to fight for treaty rights due to his people in a 1945 letter to Box Elder commissioners.15 During Pioneer Day in 1970, Chester and other veterans in the Bannock Creek community were featured on an Iwo Jima–themed parade float in honor of their service.16

    After the war, Chester returned to Fort Hall, where he acted as chairman of the Northwestern Shoshone in 1950.17 As chairman, he worked with lawyers to negotiate the full payment of 1863 Treaty of Box Elder provisions. Chester also played a foundational role in the Bannock Creek Branch after it was formally organized in 1953. He was called as a ward teacher and Sunday school first assistant.18 He subsequently served as priesthood group leader and then as first counselor in the branch presidency in 1970.19 Just a year after his call as first counselor, the Pocatello West Stake was reorganized and a new presidency was called. Chester decided to serve a mission after his time in the branch presidency, and he served in the Southwest Indian Mission in Arizona from 1971 to 1973.20 After his service for his church, country, and family, Chester Revoir Ottogary died of a heart attack at the home of his son Clyde Ottogary in Bannock Creek on 7 November 1987. He was buried at the Bannock Creek Cemetery.21

    Cite this page

    Chester Revoir Ottogary (1908–1987), Native Saints, accessed May 28, 2026 https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/native-saints/biographies/chester-revoir-ottogary

      Footnotes

      1. [1]Washakie Branch, part 2, image 14, Record of Members Collection, 1836–1970, Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (Church History Library hereafter cited as CHL); Elwood Ward, part 1, image 140, Record of Members Collection, CHL, “Chester Revoir Ottogary” and “Nancy Smith,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org; biography of Willie Ottogary. Chester’s birthdate is listed as 30 January 1908 and 31 January 1931 with equal frequency in the records.

      2. [2]Matthew E. Kreitzer, The Washakie Letters of Willie Ottogary: Northwestern Shoshone Journalist and Leader, 1906–1929 (Utah State University Press, 2000), 9, 11–12.

      3. [3]Kreitzer, Washakie Letters of Willie Ottogary, 17–18; “To Arizona,” Idaho State Journal (Pocatello), 20 May 1971, A2. His father, Willie Ottogary, first reported on Chester’s boxing career on 27 January 1926 and stated a year later that Chester had begun his boxing career on 9 January 1926. Chester’s boxing record is also available to view online. (“Willie Ottogary Writes to the Journal from Washakie,” Journal [Logan, UT], 30 Jan. 1926, [7]; Kreitzer, Washakie Letters of Willie Ottogary, 201; “Chester Ottogary [Kickapoo Dan],” BoxerList, accessed 3 Mar. 2026, https://boxerlist.com/en/boxer/chester-ottogary/173651.)

      4. [4]“Indian Brothers to Trade Punches with Colored Trio,” Deseret News, 27 Feb. 1926, [15]; “To Arizona,” A2; “Custer Ernie Ottogary,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      5. [5]“Remembering Washakie,” in Paula J. Butler Watkins Audiovisual Collection, Dec. 2013, CHL.

      6. [6]Kreitzer, Washakie Letters of Willie Ottogary, 8–9, 11, 19.

      7. [7]Washakie Branch, part 1, image 281, Record of Members Collection, CHL; Washakie Ward General Minutes, 1902–33, 1943–62, vol. 8, insert between pp. 43 and 44, 6 Dec. 1831; William G. Hartley, “‘Brethren, It’s the Last Day of the Month’: A History of Ward Teaching, 1912–1963,” Journal of Mormon History 44, no. 4 (Oct. 2018): 90–111.

      8. [8]Washakie Branch, part 1, images 193, 196, 197, 199, Record of Members Collection, CHL.

      9. [9]Washakie Branch, part 2, images 289, 342, Record of Members Collection, CHL; see also “Vida Pubigee,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org. Vida and Chester shared a common ancestor, Peter Otahgary, and were first cousins once removed. (See “Willie Ottogary,” “Seth Pubigee,” “Eliza Ottogary,” and “Peter Ottogary,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.)

      10. [10]ID Death Certificates, 1911–27, DGS 4192708, file no. 63681, 22 Aug. 1928, familysearch.org; Idaho Falls Family History Center Obituary Collection, 1880–2013, DGS 100464615, image 327, familysearch.org; “Effie Ottogary,” Bannock Creek Cemetery, Power Co., ID, Memorial ID 135328119, Find a Grave, accessed 2 Mar. 2026, findagrave.com; Bannock Co., ID, Obituaries, 1963–2013, DGS 100464045, image 711, familysearch.org; see also “Annie Ottogary,” “Clyde Selvin Ottogary,” “Effie Ottogary,” and “Ernest Ottogary,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      11. [11]Washakie Branch, part 1, images 195, 207; part 2, image 342, Record of Members Collection, CHL.

      12. [12]Griffin Peyope, “Washakie Indian Girl Sends in News Letter,” Cache American (Logan, UT), 17 Sep. 1935, 1.

      13. [13]“Chester Ottogary” and “Bessie H. Ottogary,” Idaho, U.S., Divorce Records, 1947–1973, Idaho Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Boise, Idaho, file no. 3019, ancestry.com; Fort Hall, ID, Indian Census Rolls, 1885–1939, DGS 7141033, image 293, familysearch.org; Utah Death Certificates, 1904–51, DGS 4121314, file no. 39, familysearch.org; “May Nanekey,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      14. [14]Salt Lake City, UT, Index to Military Records of World War II, Veterans from Utah, DGS 8244950, “Ottgary, Chester,” image 3301, familysearch.org; Bannock Co., ID, Obituaries, 1963–2013, DGS 100464041, “Chester Ottogary,” image 379, familysearch.org.

      15. [15]Salt Lake City, UT, Index to Military Records of World War II, Veterans from Utah, DGS 8244950, “Ottgary, Chester,” image 3301, familysearch.org; “County Commissioners Receives Interesting Letter from Indian,” Bear River Valley Leader (Tremonton, UT), 26 July 1945, [1].

      16. [16]Historical Report, 31 Dec. 1970, Bannock Creek Branch Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 1953–83, CHL.

      17. [17]“Tribe Members in Brigham Thursday,” Box Elder Journal (Brigham City, UT), 26 May 1950, [1].

      18. [18]“Tribe Members in Brigham Thursday,” [1]; Branch Chronology, 27 Dec. 1953, 17 Jan. 1954, Bannock Creek Branch Manuscript History and Historical Reports, CHL; see also biography of Henry Woonsook.

      19. [19]Quarterly Historical Report, 30 Nov. 1967; Historical Report, 31 Dec. 1970, Bannock Creek Branch Manuscript History and Historical Reports, CHL.

      20. [20]“To Arizona,” A2. See also Historical Report, 31 Dec. 1971; Record of Officers, 30 Apr. 1972; Officers Sustained, 29 Apr. 1973; Historical Report, 31 Dec. 1973, Bannock Creek Branch Manuscript History and Historical Reports, CHL. Chester’s obituary says 1970–1972, but the other sources are more reliable and corroborate one another. (Bannock Co., ID, Obituaries, 1963–2013, DGS 100464041, “Chester Ottogary,” image 379, familysearch.org.)

      21. [21]Bannock Co., ID, Obituaries, 1963–2013, DGS 100464041, “Chester Ottogary,” image 379, familysearch.org; “Chester Revior Ottogary,” Bannock Creek Cemetery, Fort Hall, Power Co., ID, Memorial ID 135404943, Find a Grave, accessed 3 Mar. 2026, findagrave.com.