Elliott Family

Kathy was a remarkable woman; I don't think anyone in our extended family has any doubt. Although I cannot be there with you today to celebrate her life and mourn her passing, I hope I can add a few words to yours.

Nine years ago, on the eve of my mother Joyce's funeral, I got a phone call at my brother's place in Calgary. It was Auntie Kathy. I had not seen her in nearly 15 years, and before that, almost 40 since I spent two summers with her and John at the Upper Saskatchewan Ranger Station.

The first words out of her mouth were: "Do you ever think of your days at the Upper Saskatchewan?" The remnants of her plummy London accent lingered over "ever". I knew then my time with them had deeply affected her.

"Oh dear Auntie," I said, "Not a day goes by, not a day goes by. In fact, I've just finished a novel about that time. I will never forget those days with you and John and they changed my life forever."

Thus began my friendship with Kathy. Each time I flew out to Alberta I came to Rocky and took her for lunch. She was a fun lunch date: upbeat, always dressed up and funny and flirty. I listen raptly to her stories about life at Castle and the Upper Saskatchewan and coming to Alberta from London. She was a pioneer.

She used a double-bitted axe to split a load of firewood, trundled a full wheelbarrow across the yard and stoked the woodstove. And that was just the beginning of a day that included tending to ten dogs, baking bread, cooking meals in 120 degree heat, weeding a garden, taking radio calls, collecting weather data for the Canadian government and more.

I knew then I had to revise my novel to include her stories as equal to John's. She deserves a book of her own, so many and so good were the stories, vividly and artfully told. It also became clear to me that if men like John succeeded because they had women like Kathy behind them, the Alberta Forest Service's backbone was the women on the radios in the ranger stations, stringing together communications, keeping crews on the fireline and helicopters in the air during rescues. This was a time before paved highways, before long-distance radios, telephones and so on, in the backcountry.

She seldom lamented much about her life, but she did disclose once that when she told her stories, the younger women in Rocky did not believe her. How could they? To imagine a time before all this, before cellphones and SUV's is as difficult for them, as it was for me to imagine someone actually choosing to come to Canada to live in a sod hut on the prairies in winter.

Last year I won an award in Banff for my book. I have no doubt my great-Auntie's stories was part of my winning. She has been heard by a younger generation.

I'm changed for having known her both as a 10 year old deaf boy and as an adult. I loved her and she loved me. She was proud of me and I'm so proud to be her nephew.

I will miss Kathy. God bless her. I wish I could be there with you. Thank you for listening to these words.