Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Fort Smith (Oct 24/05) - Lillian Kristensen, a well-respected resident of Fort Smith, died Oct. 15 after a 10-year battle with cancer. She was 71.

Kristensen was known for her volunteer work and her upbeat outlook on life, despite a long illness.

Lillian Kristensen was a committed community volunteer who will be missed in Fort Smith. - NNSL file photo

She was honoured as Fort Smith's Citizen of the Year in 1994 and as the NWT's Elder Volunteer of the Year in 2004.

"She was always optimistic and positive," says her husband, Ib.

"She was helpful to anyone who needed help."

In a 2004 News/North interview, Lillian Kristensen talked about how her positive outlook was not diminished by her illness.

"You don't sit down and take it," she said. "You just go on living."

Ib says Lillian was a deeply religious person, recalling she was first told a decade ago by a doctor that she had five months to live because of intestinal cancer.

"Lillian looked at her and said, 'Well, I've heard what you said, but I haven't heard from the Lord, yet.'"

Mayor Peter Martselos says Lillian made a tremendous contribution to Fort Smith with her numerous volunteer efforts.

"She always tried to make life better for other people by giving hope," Martselos says.

In the 1970s, Lillian started the NWT's first licensed animal shelter in the backyard of North of 60 Books, a business she and her husband owned at the time. The shelter operated until the town opened one in the 1980s.

Dixie Penner, treasurer of the Fort Smith Animal Shelter, notes Lillian was honourary president of the shelter and ran the Pennies for Pets fundraising effort.

"We'll miss her so much for everything," Penner says. "It's a great loss to the community."

The Kristensens would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary next June 30.

"Lillian was really looking forward to that," Ib says.

"It was going to be a big moment for her."

The Kristensens were born, raised and married in Copenhagen, Denmark.

They emigrated to Canada in 1957 and lived in Montreal and Vancouver - where their two sons were born - before settling in Fort Smith in 1971.

Ib says Lillian loved Fort Smith. "It was a real find for us to come here."

She was a seamstress by trade, having learned the skill in the high fashion houses of Copenhagen. In Canada, she took up handweaving and her work was exhibited in Ottawa and Montreal.

There will be a memorial service for Lillian Kristensen, beginning at 3 p.m. on Oct. 26 at St. Joseph Cathedral in Fort Smith.