Dave Sullivan
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 19/01) - It sparkles like the expensive diamond it is. Ellen Marcotte holds it up against the tiny diamond her husband gave her 18 years ago.

"I knew he didn't have any money a that time but I wasn't going to quiz him," she says.

Husband Gerry is a plumber now, and over the years he never offered to upgrade the ring. "But then again, I never asked," notes the Grande Prairie, Alta., operating-room nurse.

"The pressure's off him now."

Marcotte won the $16,000 stone in a Stanton Regional Hospital fundraiser. Hospital officials couldn't have been happier at a presentation Monday, because the 1.09-carat diamond will stay in the Stanton family. Marcotte is the sister of Dr. Theresa Hansen.

"I came up to visit her during Raven Mad days and bought a ticket," Marcotte said.

"This is quite a treasure."

She can't decide whether to mount it on a pin or pendant. She's sure though, that its glitter won't be wasted on the inside walls of a safe deposit box. "You can't enjoy it there," she said.

The gem is a square princess cut from the Ekati Mine, donated by BHP. It was 40 per cent larger before being cut, according to BHP sales manager Serge Pelletier. Originally it weighed three carats.

Marcotte also got $1,000 cash, and a family tour of the Ekati mine.

The raffle raised $30,000, enough to pay all the cost overruns of a $1.3-million MRI machine purchased in January 2000. Since then, 1,800 patients have had MRI scans, said Hospital Foundation chair Daryl Dolynny.