Eileen Collins
Special to Northern News Services

Hay River (Nov 11/02) - The Hay River community paid their respects last week to Wally (Walter) Ring who died at the age of 75.

Wally Ring, a well-known businessperson in Hay River, died last week at age 75. - photo courtesy of the Ring family

Wally was the town's first independent pharmacist. He was born on a farm near Neudorf, Sask., and after high school, farmed for a time before enrolling in the pharmacy program at the University of Saskatchewan graduating in 1959.

After university, Wally moved to Uranium City where he met and married his wife Marlene in 1961.

The couple moved to Fort Smith and opened Wally's Drugs. Two years later, Wally and Marlene moved to Hay River.

The first Hay River store was located in the old hotel on Vale Island. The business opened just in time for the famous 1963 flood. Marlene and her infant son, Larry, were evacuated, but Wally's skills as a pharmacist were needed and he stayed behind.

The early years were a struggle. Wally worked at the hospital dispensary for an hour each morning and then for twelve hours in the drug store. He had no help with dispensing prescriptions.

On days when he himself was sick, he'd lie on a cot in his office getting up to fill a prescription and lying down again when he'd finished.

Always answering the call

Throughout his professional life, it was not uncommon for Wally to respond to an emergency on holidays or at night.

It was Christmas Eve and a Sunday. A visitor to the community had his luggage with a vital prescription in it misplaced by the airline. All he had to do was phone Wally who went to the store, called the doctor and filled the prescription.

Wally was very successful in his profession, as a businessman and was a well-loved member of the community.

He possessed none of the characteristics usually associated with success in business. Rather than being aggressive, he was unassuming. He disliked the limelight and preferred to work quietly behind the scenes whether it was business or an act of kindness and generosity. He could be very professional when dealing with a client and segue to the role of friend after the prescription was filled.

After the flood, the town decided to move further south away from the flood plain. Wally moved with it opening a store in the Ptarmigan Inn and maintaining the Vale Island store for a time.

In 1971, he and businessman, Bob Jameson, took a risk and built the first floor of the building Ring's Pharmacy occupies today.

Later, the second floor was added and Wally had a 25 per cent share in the Back Eddy, the restaurant and lounge, which he later sold.

He also had an interest in the drug store in Pine Point. Wally was one of the original shareholders in Arctic Cruise Lines and Arctic Offshore.

Captain Don Tetrault said, "His comments were very helpful.

He often had a very different approach than the rest of us. I thought he was an absolute genius in business. He lived a highly moral life."

There were no free rides with the shipping company. Wally took one of the biggest risks of his life when in order to travel on a company ship, he volunteered as a deck hand on the Arctic Offshore ship 'the Orion'. It was being moved out of the North around Alaska through the Panama Canal and up to Halifax. They were also towing the tug the 'Gordon Gill'. Fierce storms pummelled the ships around Alaska.

Tetrault said Wally's help was invaluable "he was immune to seasickness." The cook had sustained a serious injury and had to be strapped into his bunk. Wally was in charge of the first aid and looked after the cook. He also served as the substitute cook. The storm was so violent, it bent the bracket for the ship's bell located in front and below the wheelhouse and the wind blew some of the plates off the back of the ship.

The towline broke and they lost the Gordon Gill. Tetrault said the two months on board was an opportunity for he and Wally to really get to know each other.

"He was a wonderful shipmate."

Back on shore, the quiet man continued to devote his time to the business, his family, the Kiwanis and donated to many causes and organizations in Hay River.

"As long as it was for the good of Hay River, he gave his support," Barry Ashton, another business associate, said. There were three or four visits a year to visit his 102-year-old mother in Saskatchewan.

Wally and Marlene curled in the early years and attended the world curling championships and the Canadian Briar as spectators over the last 25 years.

Children take the reins

Although he continued to walk to work and put in an 8 to 5 day, he was able to semi-retire.

His children -- sons Larry and Les, and daughter Gayle, had taken on the role of running the business. Wally's Drugs in Fort Smith became part of the family business again.

He enjoyed weekends at the cabin on Sandy Lake, the outdoors, reading to his grandchildren, and reading his vast collection of Northern history books.

His son Larry said people had commented that 75 is not old in this day and that Wally left while relatively young. Larry responded to that on behalf of his siblings and himself.

"We got to work with our father everyday. There was never any disagreement."

Wally is survived by his wife, Marlene, and his mother, Amelia Ring, his sons Larry (Lori), Les (Trisha) and daughter Gayle (Tim) and his granddaughters, Kimberly, Cassidy, Briana and Kaitlyn.