Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 24/02) - Sixty years ago, Tillie Smith, a resident of Clear Lake, Man., made a promise to her mother.

She would find the grave of her brother, who drowned at the Yellowknife River's Tarten Rapids in early June 1942, and pay her family's last respects.

Peter Gene Hendrick died in a drowning accident at Tarten Rapids in June 1942. It would be 60 years before his family would locate his final resting place. - photo courtesy of Tillie Smith

Last Wednesday, on the shores of Back Bay, she finally got to fulfill that promise.

"I carried this with me all my life," said the 81-year-old grandmother, who came to Yellowknife accompanied by her daughter Sheila Ewasiuk and husband Murray, and grandson Kristopher.

"We had no way of bringing the body home. We couldn't get a plane because the war was on, and we didn't have the money to come."

Peter Gene Hendrick was 25 years old when he perished. He grew up on the family farm in Manitoba, and at age 17 set out for a little adventure and to see the country.

Sometime in late 1940, he found himself in Yellowknife, working among other things as cook, heavy duty mechanic and diamond driller deep underground.

He already had one close call on a trip to Great Bear Lake via dog sled when he went through the ice.

He managed to crawl back out with his dogs, and was eventually rescued. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be so lucky next time.

"He was going to Fort Norman (Tulita) with three other guys (on a cat train) and the motor stalled," Smith recalled.

"He reached down to choke it, but lost his balance. Then they said his body came up three times but the rapids pulled him under."

Besides a phone call from the RCMP, and a brief clipping in the Yellowknife Blade, the family knew very little about what became of his body.

All they knew was that he was found a month later by a fisherman and buried in Yellowknife by strangers. It would remain a mystery until this year when, with a little help from modern technology, several parties came to the family's aid.

Internet helped search effort

Smith's daughter Sheila Ewasiuk thought it was high time to take a drive up North with the family and visit her uncle's last home.

Her friend Janis Backlund offered to help with the search for his grave via the Internet.

Backlund's inquiries led her to Kristin Watt, the community services secretary at the City Hall, whose tasks include managing records for Lakeview Cemetery, which is where most Yellowknifers are buried.

The hunt for Hendrick's burial record was temporarily stalled when going over old files for Back Bay Cemetery, only the plot numbers 1-17, and those upwards of 19 turned up.

"Uncle Pete was number 18," said Sheila. His number was finally found after matching it with records kept at the Northern Heritage Centre.

The exact location of the plot remains unknown. Hendrick's final resting place is one of three unmarked graves near the south end of the cemetery.

It was decided a proper headstone would be made and placed at the top centre of the three plots.

The only question that remained was how to get it over there?

The family contacted Pastor Connie Landstrom of the Holy Family Lutheran Church for help during their visit.

Some phoning around led to Barry Henkel, part-owner of Nahanni Construction, who offered to lay the foundation for the headstone and transport it out to the grave site free of charge.

Everywhere the family turned, the town that had buried Hendrick as one of their own, wanted to help.

"Just to be able to help in fulfilling Tillie's promise and dream," said Landstrom, who performed last Thursday's burial ceremony over Hendrick's grave.

"It's always a pleasure to help bring closure for people that have been affected by these events."

Watt also joined the family for the service.

"We get these sort of requests every day," said Watt. "But what makes it exciting for me was helping her (Smith) find her brother after 60 years."

Foundation formed

The family decided to take the money that would have been used to pay Nahanni Construction for the headstone foundation, and put it into a Yellowknife Community Foundation fund in Hendrick's memory.

The money will go towards maintaining Back Bay Cemetery.

One final note of closure for the family: Hendrick's older brother Bill never did get to set eyes on his brother's grave.

He died June 22. With the family's visit to Yellowknife, came a bit of soil from the grave and flowers from Bill's wreath.

"Now they will always be together," said Smith.