Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Fort Resolution (Aug 27/01) - Having just celebrated her 68th birthday last month, Fort Resolution's Marguerite Rose still has a thirst for education.

Born in Fort Rae, Marguerite and the family moved to Fort Resolution when her father, Stuart St. Stephens got transferred to the Hudson Bay store there.

While attending school at the convent in Fort Res and later at residential school in Fort Smith, she learned Latin, French, English, Chipewyan and Slavey. But in those days, university was a luxury.

"In my era, we didn't have the privilege of higher education," she said. "In the 40s and 50s, it was just mostly for high society."

As a single mom, Marguerite brought 12 children into the world -- four girls and eight boys, but lost two to illness. She says they got by just fine and she saw that her kids got through school and into post-secondary education as well.

"I taught my kids to go to school; they went to the University of Victoria, Chilliwack, Iqaluit, Dawson City..." she said. "I never felt sorry for myself, I kept active and I was happy to have what I had."

Her eldest son just returned from visiting mom in Fort Res to his home in Chicago.

"He drove all the way from Chicago to see me with a 1974 Jeep and he made it the whole way," she said.

In 1994, Marguerite decided to return to school to study nursing and loved it so much she returned again in 1998, to study cooking at Aurora College in Fort Smith.

"I decided to do something for myself," she said. "If anything happens to me, at least my grandchildren can say, 'Oh, our grandma went to college.'"

She'd always loved cooking and says she enjoys making "colourful, attractive meals." She first learned about professional cooking while living in the Yukon, where she worked seven years for the Department of National Defence.

"It was nice working there because there were great chefs from all over the world; Europe and China."

The last night she worked there she was preparing a banquet for 700 people.

"I told that airport guy to go to the tundra and get me 12 caribou," she remembered.

"They butchered all the caribou, but threw all the tongues away."

"I said, 'That's the best part!'"

"I could have wrung their necks," she laughed.

She says most family meals today are lacking in nutrition and says children eat far too much junk food.

"It's so attractive to young people and it rots their teeth and they get hyper," she said.