Father Francis Ebner, the man behind the creation of Yellowknife's Catholic school district, recently visited Yellowknife to help in the 50th anniversary celebration preparations.
Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Feb 28/01) - Father Francis Ebner rode a Harley.
The priest came up North in 1944 and on his first vacation from Yellowknife in 1952 an old classmate hooked him up with the motorcycle in Milwaukee. He offered to buy him a bike every year.
A wealthy man, his friend offered him the chance to meet Harley Davidson, who gave Ebner a helmet.
Ebner then hopped on his brand new 350 and headed west. In Saskatchewan he hit another car and broke his back. Three weeks later he was out of the hospital.
"Since then I can't throw a ball hard," says Ebner, who is now 84 and has given up the hobby of riding.
Ebner now lives in St. Albert, Alta. His hearing is going but time seems to have eroded little else. Sitting with rigid posture, light blue eyes metallic in the glint of his spectacles, thinning silver hair combed in symmetrical perfection and a cup of steaming tea beside his clasped hands at a large table in the home of Mary Vane, he remembers back on his Northern past.
Ebner, who is the reason for the Yellowknife's Catholic School district becoming a reality, was in Yellowknife last week as part of the district's 50th anniversary preparations for next year. During his visit the school district videotaped him retelling the past.
"The system was set up to favour Protestants," remembers Ebner.
"We thought we ought to have our own school," he said.
In 1951 Yellowknife was based in Old Town and there was no road to Dettah. It was the days of gold with three mines, Giant, Con and Negus, churning ore.
Ebner never had to walk very far. The fellas from Perkin's Taxi used to give him rides for free because he was a clergy.
"A few boys from Negus used to go to Lil's Cafe for coffee after work and that was a good evening," says Ebner.
He stayed at the Old Stope Inn and every evening miners asked him to go out for drinks or to visit the Giant bunkhouses for poker games.
"When I was here word came we should look into the possibility of starting a Catholic district," says Ebner.
"I called the initial meeting to see if there was interest," says Ebner.
And there was. After striking a committee to research a student base a free vote was held and Catholic ratepayers decided to support a Catholic district.
A new beginning
Ebner began to help build St. Patrick's school in 1952.
"I put up almost all the asbestos shingles," says Ebner.
When they finished the outside of the school, Ebner moved inside and lived from room to room.
At the end of construction he took on the boiler room responsibilities. He became the school's janitor, sleeping on a narrow cot in the boiler room.
"It was handy," says Ebner, "I didn't have to get up and check to see if the boiler was running."
For six years he lived in the boiler room with an ale box as a typewriting stand, a small cot and a wash sink as furniture. He'd get up at 5:30 a.m. to give mass and then head to work as a the caretaker of the school.
"I did all the repair work," says Ebner.
He tells the story of a union member who walked up to him and accused him of taking other people's work. Ebner asked him if he'd like to do what he was doing for free. The man walked away.
Frozen in time
On a frozen February day in 2001 Ebner stands in St. Patrick's high school's rock amphitheatre. It's named after him and a plaque on a wall traces a compressed biography.
On Sept. 5, 1944 the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria and Ebner landed in Fort Norman. He came from Superior, Wisconsin.
He was an Oblate priest from the Order of Mary Immaculate. He went North to save souls and find adventure. He always loved the outdoor- life and the North was just a vast, untouched frontier.
"I always wanted to come up North to be a missionary," says Ebner.
He stayed in Fort Norman for seven months before moving to Kugluktuk.
They didn't talk about the war much back then. They listen to the news a bit on the radio, but not too much because they didn't want to run out of batteries.
There he gave his first sermon in Inuktitut.
In 1947 he moved to Yellowknife before heading to Hay River in 1967. In 1974 he went to Fort Smith and finished off his tour of duty in 1985 when he travelled to Inuvik and stayed until 1992 when he retired.
He was born in the waiting room of a railway depot in Nickerson, Minnesota during a blizzard.
A fitting beginning for a life that strayed from the ordinary.
Father Ebner rode a Harley.
Ebner received his favourite Harley in 1954, a 750cc.
"It had lots of power," said Ebner who never took a slow ride.
He owned an 883 XL and 900 XL over the years. He picked them up in Wisconsin and drove to Edmonton and they'd came up by truck and barge to wherever he was living at the time.
"I felt at home in the North," says Ebner.
So the boy from Minnesota who wanted to be a Mac truck driver fell in love and drove a Harley in Canada's Arctic, building a school and created a Catholic school district along the way.
But the last two things he doesn't really talk about.
He says he was just there at the right time, other people did the work.
"I just happened to be around," says Ebner.
But walking through the halls of the renovated St. Pat's his eyes slowly trace the lines on the walls leading to the ceiling.
He's counting his thumbprints.
