LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
A wall hanging from 1962 embroidered with the names of students at Thomas Simpson Secondary School has made its way home to Fort Simpson after more than half a century.

Fawna Erasmus, left, and Shane Kwasney hold up an embroidered wall hanging sent to Thomas Simpson School in 2015. The hanging is from 1962 and features the names from Grade 7, 8 and 9 students as well as vocational students, hand-embroidered as a gift to then-vice principal Sidney Hancock. - April Hudson/NNSL photo

The hanging was discovered by Patricia Adams, daughter of the school's former vice-principal Sidney William Hancock who taught in Fort Simpson for three years between 1959 and 1962.

The family believes the wall hanging was presented to Hancock as a gift upon his retirement.

"We think that this is a heritage item for your school since many of the children now attending might be grandchildren of those mentioned on the wall hanging," she wrote in a letter to the school, expressing hope it would be hung in the school or given to a museum.

Original intent unclear

Contacted at her home in Ontario, Adams said she was not positive if the piece of cloth, which measures a few feet long and a few feet wide, was intended to be a wall hanging or not.

"He was very proud to have it and I thought it would be great for the school to have," she said.

"They loved the North and making friends."

She said their stay in Fort Simpson was the highlight of her father's time in the North, where he and Madel helped to establish a community club. While in Fort Simpson, Mabel worked at Hudson's Bay.

Adams has her own fond memories of the village despite moving away years ago.

"I was actually married in Fort Simpson. I met my husband - he was in the RCMP - and we married there in 1965 at the Anglican church," she said.

Fawna Erasmus, the special needs assistant for Thomas Simpson Secondary School, said the school received the wall hanging last year just before school ended for the summer and had no chance to react to it at the time.

Now, the school plans to frame and display the wall hanging as a piece of history.

"It would be great to have this in the building, to show that connection," she said.

Good condition prompts surprise

She also expressed surprise at the hanging's good condition - after 50 years, embroidered names from Grade 7, 8, 9 and vocational students are still clear and the hanging is free of stains or wear and tear.

The wall hanging bears the names of students from Fort Liard, Fort Providence, Jean Marie River, Trout Lake and Wrigley, as well as students from elsewhere in the Northwest Territories. Some have gone on to become community leaders and respected elders.

"It's so neat to see the history behind this, and see we're all interconnected in the North," Erasmus said.

Hancock and his wife Mabel lived in Fort Simpson for six years. After retiring from education, Hancock became the area administrator for the region. As he moved his way up in the government, he eventually became regional administrator in Inuvik in 1965.

After that, he moved to Iqaluit, then called Frobisher Bay and eventually to Yellowknife. In 1975 he retired from his post as assistant commissioner.

On Dec. 23, 1994, an obituary for Hancock ran in Yellowknifer.

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