Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 08/02) - Mike Drake is settling in as a consultant for foster care in Yellowknife this week.

A familiar face to many in the Deh Cho, Drake worked as a social worker in Fort Liard for five years. He said he's going to miss the local people.

"There's a lot of good people here," he said about Fort Liard last week, prior to leaving for Yellowknife. "I think it's a very community-minded place. When push comes to shove, this community really can pull together and really help everybody out."

Drake and his wife, Martha, were two of the very people who found solace in the community's compassion. Three days after moving to Fort Liard their young son, Matthew, was killed by a vehicle.

"Man, I'll tell you the support that I got out of this community was unbelievable, and still to this day," Drake said.

He also gave back to Fort Liard, not only as a social worker but by serving as a volunteer firefighter, including a stint as fire chief.

Al Harris, a fellow firefighter and a friend, said Drake had a strong rapport with local people.

"He's done some great things for this community. He got people to open up and start to speak about things," said Harris. "It seems like Mike has been able to hit it off with people here and make them feel like he's lived here all his life."

Fellow social worker Stephanie de Pelham, who is based in Fort Simpson, said she is going to miss Drake.

"I'm going to miss his humour, his optimism ... he was so optimistic about being able to do anything," de Pelham said. "He was always a joy to work with."

Drake also lived in Fort Simpson for close to three years and in Wrigley for nearly 16 years. In Wrigley he operated heavy equipment, maintained the airport and, eventually, became a social worker.

Having been, for most of his tenure, the lone social worker in Fort Liard, a community of more than 500 people, sometimes his caseload was a heavy burden to bear.

"There were times when it was just fire after fire after fire ... but there's other times when you're working with a family and you see change, a significant change sometimes, and that makes it all worthwhile," Drake said. "I can also say that I also had nothing but total support from the Fort Simpson office."