Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 19/02) - Eddie Paul Beyonnie was a talented musician and artist with an insatiable passion for life.

"He always had a positive attitude towards life. He graduated this year. He wanted to be a cook or a chef," says Felix Beyonnie, Eddie's older brother.

Eddie, whose death has sparked the first homicide investigation in Yellowknife in almost a decade, was working as a prep cook at the Explorer Hotel and training as a chef before his sudden death.

He played the guitar, spent his time painting and drawing pictures, and travelled out on the land to hunt caribou and other wild game at every possible opportunity.

"When he was a little kid he spent about seven months out of the year at our cabin out on Gordon Lake," says his father Paul Mackenzie. "He loved it."

As a young boy, says his aunt Carol Mackenzie, he was eager to learn how to trap, hunt and skin animals. He respected and honoured the traditional Dene way of life.

Also an athlete, Eddie visited the Ndilo Gym almost every night.

"He had a lot of friends. Everyone knew him and everyone will miss him," says his father, his voice filled with sorrow.

And to Felix, Eddie "was a great brother. He was a very good listener. We were very close."

Debbie Maracle will remember Eddie as very shy and quiet, but determined to succeed and get ahead in life. Eddie worked for her husband Mitch at O & M Moving.

"We could tell that Eddie was out to better himself. He was very determined," she says.

At St. Pat's high school Eddie was a role model to the younger students and always eager to lend a helping hand, says Warren Cummins, Eddie's wildlife teacher. Eddie returned to finish his high school education last fall.

"He was a determined young fellow and he was lots of fun to have in class. He was a very positive influence on other people in the class because he was an older student.

"He had a passion for life, I can say that, and he had plans for himself. He had a definite direction that he was going to go in," says Cummins.

Eddie was eligible to graduate just last month. And even though he chose not to walk with the rest of the grads, Cummins says "he did say 'I want to make sure I do well so I can go someplace and get my education finished' and I think that's what kept him coming back."

Eddie provided a "quiet leadership" and was always there to lend a helping hand.

"He was the kind of guy that you could rely on just to help out and lend a hand on anything. So in that way he was a role model to other students," Cummins says.

On their last class fieldtrip at Reid Lake in early June, Eddie was a real go-getter and engaged Cummins and his classmates in some very interesting conversations.

"He was just an easy-going, pleasant guy to talk to, real easy to talk to," he said.

A funeral service for Eddie Paul was held at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church yesterday.