K'ATLODEECHE/HAY RIVER RESERVE - In her 38 years living in Hay River, Ellen Jacobs has had many jobs.

"I'm a female jack-of-all trades," said Jacobs with a laugh while working at her current job – acting manager at Ehdah Cho Store on the Hay River Reserve.

Ellen Jacobs: managing the Ehdah Cho Store on the Hay River Reserve is a big responsibility. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

In the past, she has also been a receptionist at a dental clinic and later an insurance agency, a waitress, a dispatcher at a taxi company, a clerk at a hardware store, and a guard at the former Dene Konia young offenders facility.

"I've enjoyed all my jobs," she said, adding she is an outgoing person and enjoys working with the public.

For the past 15 months, she has been assistant manager at Edhah Cho Store, and became acting manager when the previous manager left the position on June 12 to move south.

"So now I'm the big honcho," Jacobs said.

The 58-year-old said everything is going well with her new position, crediting the training she received from former manager Warren Nekurak.

"He taught me more things than I thought I could ever learn in a grocery store," she said.

Jacobs has been offered the job of manager permanently, but she will eventually return to being assistant manager.

While she is flattered the store's owner – K'atlodeeche First Nation – has confidence in her to remain manager, Jacobs said,

"I would like more experience before taking over such a major role."

That way, she said she can keep on learning.

Some people might think there would not be a lot of work to managing a small grocery store, she said. "People don't realize there's lots to do."

Just some of her duties include office work, ordering products, filling out-of-town orders, making sure equipment is in working order and filling in for absent employees.

"I can do anything in this store," she said, although she said she doesn't unload trucks too often.

Jacobs said she loves working at Ehdah Cho Store, explaining, "I think I love it because I'm a people person."

Her first job in Hay River was as a waitress at The Zoo, a lounge and restaurant which operated for many years before closing in 2005.

She worked the longest at the Hay River Dental Clinic, where she was a receptionist for 11 years.

However, after returning to work at the clinic after a two-week holiday, she went into anaphylactic shock and had to be rushed to hospital. It was later determined she was allergic to airborne particles of latex and she had to find a new job because of the latex gloves used at a dental clinic.

Just before working at Ehdah Cho Store, she was a front counter clerk at Wesclean Northern Sales Ltd. Jacobs, who is originally from Windsor, Ont., first came to Hay River in 1970.

Back then, two friends of hers were visiting Hay River.

"I was just coming for the adventure," she recalled, adding they arrived in town in September. "I stayed and they left at Christmas."

Jacobs stayed because she met the man who was to become her first husband. They had three children during their marriage.

Jacobs has been married to her second husband for 22 years.

"This is my home," she said of Hay River, where she lives and drives to the reserve for work.

Jacobs said her new job at Ehdah Cho Store is a major responsibility, adding she oversees nine employees.

She noted the store is "essential" for residents of the reserve, explaining it allows them to buy food, gas and other items without having to go to Hay River.

K'atlodeeche First Nation is currently advertising to find a new manager.

Jacobs is not sure how long she will be acting manager until a new manager is found.