Chris Puglia
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 04/02) - Florence Erasmus died Sept. 27 and she leaves a lifetime of achievements that will guarantee she will live on in the hearts and minds of many Northerners.

Not the least of her achievements was being the mother of 12 children.

Roy Erasmus, Florence's son, said he and his siblings looked up to their mother's example, which led them to their own successes.

In fact, three of her sons are among the most influential men in the North.

Roy was an MLA and has now moved on to be the director of negotiations for the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs.

His brothers, George and Bill, also hold positions of some importance.

George was the president of the Indian Brotherhood, now known as the Dene Nation. He's also a former grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations and chairman of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.

Bill is currently the national chief of the Dene Nation.

"I would say a lot of our successes are directly attributable to our mother and her beliefs. She was always very, very supportive," said Roy.

"She was always very high on education. Nine of us have degrees."

Florence's dedication to education shines through in her experience with the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre. She was on the first elected board and became the first kindergarten teacher for the centre and held that position for 21 years.

Roy said, in all, Florence helped to teach nearly 700 children.

The kindergarten program focused on aboriginal culture and language, two things Roy said were very important to his mother.

"Language was very important to her. She could speak English, Dogrib and French. They were also working on a Dogrib Dictionary for the Tree of Peace," said Roy.

"She believed strongly in traditional ways and she passed that on to all of us. Although she was a devout Catholic she went to sweats and ceremonies as well."

Florence was also a very caring and helpful person. She was known for lending a hand and giving advice, a trait that held strong throughout her life even when she was sick in hospital with abdominal cancer.

"As far as we can remember she could be seen helping people. People would always phone her for advice. Someone even phoned her when she was in hospital in the final weeks when she was critically ill, and she helped," said Roy.

Florence is survived by her husband Fred, two brothers, a sister, six sons, five daughters, 18 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

She was an avid seamstress and was known for making clothing for her children.

She was 71.

The funeral mass was held at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church with burial at Lakeview Cemetery.

Over 500 people attended the ceremony and some had to stand outside during the service.