Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Oct 27/00) - There were certificates from Prime Minister Jean Chretien, NWT Premier Stephen Kakfwi, and many kind words spoken about a wise matriarch in Fort Simpson over the weekend.

Celine (Laviolette) Lafferty, known fondly as "Granny," officially turned 100 years old on Sunday. Her birthday was celebrated Saturday with a special mass and a community feast by her children, grandchildren, great- grandchildren and great, great- grandchildren.

Her daughter, Albertine Rodh, recalled how much her mother used to love to play cards, square dance and sew. She was said to be quite a minor hockey cheerleader too. Germaine Reitberger, also Granny's daughter, said she got more than a few unwanted lessons in knitting from her mother.

"My mom always tried to teach me to knit, but I didn't want to know how to knit," she said, smiling. Even though she would deliberately miss stitches or sew too tightly, Granny would make her keep trying.

Rodh added, "She (Granny) made all our clothing when we were little. We all wore moccasins and she made them ... she was a hard-working little woman. Nothing was too hard for her."

Born in Fort Providence on Oct. 22, 1900, Granny met and married Joseph Boniface Lafferty. They had nine children, some of whom died in infancy. Her three surviving children -- Gabriel, Albertine and Germaine -- were at the weekend celebration.

Rodh said Granny also raised three grandchildren. Reitberger, who came from Edmonton to mark her mom's birthday, said she and her sister learned to cook from Granny. The aroma of her fresh bread allured many passersby, Rodh said.

"My children used to say, 'I went past Granny's place and I could smell the bread, so I'm going over there for lunch."

It was the smell of bread that Jonas Antoine and Rita Cli remembered when they thought of Granny. Cli also recalled learning moose-hair tufting skills from her. She told Cli to pass those skills on to others as well as the Slavey language. Granny earned the Metis Nation's Order of the Shawl in 1996 for helping preserve and promote Metis culture.

"She really inspired me," Cli said. "There's more I could say, but one thing I can say is that Granny was a loving, wonderful person."

Some people have lamented the fact that Celine is now frail and has lost many of her faculties. Reitberger said she can look beyond that.

"In my heart she'll never change even if she's 100 years old," she said.