Saturday night a party was held to celebrate the 100th birthday of Lucy Vaneltsi, a Gwich'in elder who has seen some tough times, but persevered.

Ruth Carrol, the youngest of four surviving children spent a lot of time with her mother, who was comfortable on the land as she was in the kitchen. Ruth's first memory of her mom was a sweet one.

"I remember going up or coming back from Trail Creek," Carrol said. "It was hard to get sweets in those days, but I remember reaching down under the blanket where she had put some raisins."

Her father died from tuberculosis in 1954, leaving Lucy to tend to the family herself.

"Like most women in this area, she had to work hard but also did all the hunting, trapping and fishing," Carrol recalled. "She used to make tents from canvas, long before McPherson's canvas shop went up she used to make tents with a hand sewing machine."

Bertha Allen said not many people have put as much into life as Lucy.

"She was a very hard worker," Allen said. "She had to be both father and mother to raise those children."

Lucy would hunt, skin, cook and sew, Lucy knew it all, Allen said.

"I don't think anyone from my age group would ever see a life like that; we had it easy compared to Lucy," Allen said. "For her to have such a long life is just amazing."

Fred Carmichael, president of the Gwich'in Tribal Council, was happy to be a part of the celebration of life.

"It's great to be able to celebrate someone's hundredth birthday," Carmichael said. "Too often we have to come together when we're saying goodbye to someone at a funeral, but it makes me very happy when we can celebrate an elder's 100th birthday."

Carmichael very impressed by Lucy's strength.

"She lost her mother right after she was born and through flu epidemics, tuberculosis and many other diseases, she lost much of her family, but it gives the rest of us the encouragement to keep going, like she did for 100 years," he said. "We can't put our head down because we have a little problem; she went through a very hard life, but she carried on for 100 years."

Carmichael presented Lucy with a certificate from the prime minister and Nellie Cournoyea, CEO of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, presented a certificate and message from the Western Arctic Liberal MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew, as well as a message of her own.

"Lucy had a very strong and very dedicated life for her people," Cournoyea said.

David Krutko, MLA for Mackenzie Delta, read from a letter from Stephen Kakfwi, premier of the Northwest Territories.

Floyd Roland, MLA for Invuik Boot Lake was on hand to wish a happy birthday to Lucy.

"Lucy has lived through times when many of us can't even imagine what life must have been like in those days," Roland said, and also passed along wishes from Glenna Hansen, NWT commissioner.