Yellowknife (Feb 25/04) - Staff and students at J.H. Sissons school say they have plenty to celebrate this week. That wasn't the case on Tuesday.

J.H. Sissons Principal Paul Bennett shows off the appreciation award given to school custodian, Susan Lywood, who was stranded with her husband for two nights this week at Campbell Lake. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

News that Mildred Hall teacher Kyla Fennig had died suddenly last Sunday cast a pall over the school. That tragedy was compounded when the school learned one of their own was missing out on the land.

Custodian Susan Lywood failed to show up for work Monday afternoon, and the school grew anxious.

Principal Paul Bennett said the school's head custodian mentioned Lywood had talked about going on a fishing trip over the weekend, but wasn't quite sure where.

When they drove by the house belonging to Lywood and her husband Doug, Monday night, no-one was home and their truck was gone.

The next morning school staff alerted police. An aerial search began in the afternoon. Efforts focused on the area around Reid Lake, where the couple had left their truck.

It turned out they were stranded at Campbell Lake, about 24 kilometres from the search area.

"Next time I'm going to take them a map," Susan Lywood offered sheepishly.

Part of the problem, she said, is that she absent-mindedly told her co-worker that she was going to "Cameron Lake" -- a fishing destination they used to enjoy venturing to when they lived in Ontario.

Their snowmobile had broken down as they attempted leave their fishing spot on Campbell Lake, about 70 kilometres east of Yellowknife, on Sunday afternoon.

A search and rescue team was able to zero in on their location after meeting two men who said they had seen the couple on the weekend. The men led the search crew to Campbell Lake and the missing pair were brought back to their truck at Reid Lake by 2 a.m. Wednesday.

"Well, everything turned out good," said Lywood. "I got a couple extra days of fishing in. We could've lasted three or four weeks."

By Tuesday night, they were running low on the food they brought with them, but they weren't overly worried. The weather was warm, they were in a tent-frame, and the fishing was good.

The only thing that bothered them was the absence of any visible convenience stores.

"The worst of it was that we ran out of smokes," said Lywood. "We were going through withdrawal."

On Wednesday afternoon Sissons held an assembly and presented her with a Wolf Howl award, a school certificate giving acknowledgment for, among other things, showing perseverance.

"It's just something we've brought back the last four years," said Bennett.

He said he remembers what it feels like being stuck out on the land himself. He and his wife were caught in a blizzard near Kugluktuk in 1989.

Ironically, one of the members of the Yellowknife Search and Rescue team that found them was the school's guidance councillor, Archie Johnston.

He said he was worried for her, but praised the couple's decision to stay where they were.

"We were very lucky it wasn't -40 C, but they did the smart thing and went back to the safest place and waited it out," said Johnston.