Hay River (Oct 23/06) - It has been 14 years in the making. This week a huge yellow back hoe will begin construction on the Whispering Willow's Seniors' Complex in Hay River.

"I can't wait," said society member Betty Robinson, who has been involved since the idea first came forward.

"It's going to be great."

The 17-room complex should be completed by June of next year.

Seniors will be able to move in that July.

Members of the local Seniors' Society, representatives from the NWT Housing Corporation and the contractor, Arcan Construction Ltd., gathered at the work site Oct. 18 to mark the occasion.

The society had two reasons to celebrate - their dream was finally becoming a reality and the facility will be even better than they imagined, thanks to a cheque from the Alice Cambridge estate.

John Pollard, co-executor for the estate and mayor-elect, handed a cheque for $100,000 to society president Eileen Collins during a reception at the local Legion. The money will go to building a meeting room in the complex, to be called the Alice Cambridge Room.

"It will be a place where seniors can get together," said society president Eileen Collins. "I think it will bring unity to the seniors' society."

The added room will be used for education among other things, she said, with sessions ranging from information on diabetes to "line dancing at 80."

The room is to be for all seniors, not just those living in the complex.

The deal was that if the society could raise $100,000 the executors would match it.

"I can't remember who threw down the gauntlet," laughed Pollard, "but it was thrown down and has come to a very successful ending."

Alice Cambridge had always held seniors' issues "near and dear to her heart," said Pollard.

The site for the building is right next to the B and R Rowe Centre. The Housing Corporation purchased the land three years ago.

The 14 year journey has been a rocky ride, said those involved.

"It has been a struggle at times," said Duncan Cooke, president of Arcan Construction Ltd.

"It's such a relief," added Robinson, that the project would finally come to fruition after all their hard work.

Cooke is confident that all 17 units will be filled in the $3.1 million complex, he said.

One person at the event was already interested in moving in.

"I hope to live there some day," said Wanda Wood, a seniors' society member, "it's so handy, being right downtown."

When asked why "Whispering Willows' was chosen as the name, society members started laughing.

No one could remember - it had been chosen so long ago. "We put different names in a hat and that one came out," Robinson eventually remembered.