Yellowknife (July 16/04) - The wife of a Yellowknife pioneer who brought the first printing press to the NWT was buried at Lakeview Cemetery, Tuesday.

Marvel Barton died in 2002 at the age of 92, but her cremated remains were buried this week alongside her husband Ray.

Marvel Barton came to the North in 1957 with husband Ray Barton, a journeyman printer. Considered NWT "pioneers" by many, Ray opened Yellowknife's first printing shop. - photo courtesy of Louise Barton Forsythe

The Bartons moved to Yellowknife in 1957 from Regina.

After a stint working at News of the North, now know as News/North Barton went south to accompany a new Heidelberg letter press --believed to be the first of its kind in the North -- back to the city over the ice road.

He opened the Ray Barton Printing Company at 47th Street and Franklin Avenue soon after, while Marvel worked as a secretary at Sir John Franklin high school and later as the office manager at Continuing Education.

Marvel sold the printing company after Barton's death in 1972, before moving South. It was later purchased by Canarctic Graphics.

"I think my parents were Yellowknife pioneers," said Louise Barton Forsythe, daughter of Marvel and Ray.

Moving to the North before a road was built, the couple joined a small community of fewer than 5,000 people, says Forsythe.

Building it together

"They were all part of building it together," she said. "It's very precious to me to know the connections are still there," she said of the small group gathered at the cemetery.

"I remember her as a great person. Anytime you wanted something or were in trouble, she was there," remembered Ed Jeske, a former teacher at Sir John Franklin high school.

Jeske, along with a few friends joined the family for Tuesday's service.