TTHEK'EHDELI/JEAN MARIE RIVER - When Margaret Ireland was a child, some of her happiest moments were spent at her mother's bedside on Sundays listening to her tell stories.

Bella Norwegian, seen here on her 94th birthday, was the Jean Marie River First Nation's oldest band member when she died on Sept. 22. - photo courtesy of Margaret Ireland

"One of our fond childhood memories is sitting around her bed, the younger ones on the bed with her, as she told stories," Ireland said. "She told the stories of what she had heard from her childhood."

Ireland's mother, Bella Norwegian, died at the Long Term Care facility in Fort Simpson on Sept. 22. She was 94 years old.

Bella was born on Oct. 29, 1915 in Fort Simpson, where she married her husband Louie Norwegian 18 years later.

Ireland said the couple stayed in the area during their first year of marriage, as per the traditional custom at the time.

"It was a normal practice at the time that when a couple got married, the man would spend at least a year with her family and that's what my father did," she said.

The next year, the couple moved to Jean Marie River.

Bella then spent much of her time as both a midwife and a healer.

"My mother was a midwife for the community and so she delivered the majority of the babies," Ireland said. "They also looked to her if there were illnesses, they came to her for that as well."

Bella's father, grandfather and great-grandfather all worked for the Hudson Bay Company and Bella spent a lot of her childhood on the HBC compound, Ireland said.

Because of that upbringing, Bella's new husband became her teacher when it came to skills like working with moose hide and other activities.

"Her knowledge was limited when she came to Jean Marie with my father," she said. "He taught her all the things that she needed to know."

Bella's love of learning wasn't limited to traditional skills. All situations became learning opportunities for her -- including expanding her vocabulary by watching soap opera's on TV.

Ireland said Bella had often wished she could further her education, but her mother had prevented her from attending residential school.

"She remembered a time when she was kneeling with her head to the ground crying and wanting to go as the mission boat pulled away," Ireland said.

Bella also possessed an excellent memory, Ireland said.

"One of the things that always struck me was how her memory was so clear," she said.

Ireland said her mother once spoke of a wedding that took place in Fort Simpson. With materials hard to come by, village residents pooled their resources and gave the bride whatever they could.

Bella's description of the event left her daughter in awe.

"She was describing this one piece of lace and the way she described it, you could almost feel the texture and see the colour," Ireland said. "As she was telling me I was so in awe that she had such a good memory and here I am, I can't even remember yesterday."

Bella lived in Jean Marie River until illness forced her to move to Fort Simpson in 2005.

She had a total of 10 children, Ireland said.

Her son, Fred Norwegian, who died in May, recently predeceased her.

In her eulogy, family members expressed how difficult it is to summarize Bella's life.

"These are just some of Ama's life experience that we share with you, after all how do you sum up 94 years on Earth without writing a book?"

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