Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Oct 09/02) - Grade 1 students at Maani Ulujuk elementary school in Rankin Inlet were the recipients of a warm gesture this past week.

Grade 1 students Tanner Mendoza and Madeline Anawak, along with teacher Nancy Makpah, proudly display the toques and neck warmer they received as gifts to their school from the mother of a former teacher. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

Heather Solomon was a well-known teacher in the Kivalliq region for a number of years before her untimely death.

Her mother, Ann Shiplette of Cochin, Saskatchewan, recently donated a bunch of hand-knitted toques to the school.

Co-principal Cheryl Forbes says Shiplette took up knitting as a hobby again during Solomon's illness.

"Heather (Solomon) talked so much about the little Grade 1 students in Rankin, who she loved so much, that her mother decided she would make each of them a hat," says Forbes.

"All together she made 67 pink and blue hats and a number of neck warmers for the staff.

"The little toques will certainly come in handy here this winter."

Solomon taught Grade 1 classes in three Kivalliq communities for almost 15 years.

The recipient of a bachelor of education degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1991, she began her teaching career in 1977 in Coral Harbour.

She spent more than two years in Baker Lake in the late '80s before she and her husband, Metro moved to Rankin Inlet in 1991.

Solomon was also heavily involved with the Girl Guides of Canada movement, spending time with Brownies, Girl Guides and Pathfinders.

"Wherever Heather was needed, she'd always be there," says Metro.

"She was always teaching, whether she was in a classroom or not."

Forbes says Solomon was especially effective in helping her students develop reading skills.

A number of her ideas are still being used in the classroom today.

Forbes says teaching kids a new site word everyday is pretty much standard in the classroom now.

She says the idea allows kids to increase their vocabularies by learning a new word every day.

"We have an award we give out at Leo Ussak at the end of the school year in her (Solomon) name.

"It's called the See the Cup Half Full award because Heather always saw the cup that way.

"She never had a harsh word for anybody in all the time I knew her."