Philippe Morin
Northern News Services
Monday, July 23, 2007

AKLAVIK - People in the Beaufort Delta are grieving the loss of Sarah Ann Garlund, who died recently in Inuvik.

Garlund was a beloved elder who lived in Aklavik and died peacefully at the age of 92.

Sarah Ann Garlund made countless friends in her life, improved the hamlet of Aklavik and helped preserve traditional culture. The popular elder was a teacher and leaves behind 46 grandchildren and 42 great-grandchildren. - photo courtesy of Garlund family/GTC

She was born in Fort McPherson in 1915, and became a mother of 13 children who also adopted two children to raise as her own.

Hazel Heron, who is Garlund's daughter, said it is incredible to think how this "strong woman" changed hundreds of lives over many generations in the hamlet.

"She became a grandmother of 46 grandchildren and 42 great-grand children, with three great-great grandchildren with one more on the way," Heron said.

Garlund was also a Gwich'in teacher in Inuvik and also helped the CBC translate into traditional languages.

She married the late Karl Garlund in 1937 in Aklavik.

One story Heron remembered about her mother happened in 1936.

Garlund was working as a nurse's aide at the local health centre, and helped save the life of a premature baby.

"This was before incubators, and the baby was so small they didn't think it would make it through the night.

"So they made a little bed from a cardboard box and placed it on the door of the oven. She used an eye-dropper to drop brandy into its mouth," Heron said.

Incredibly, that small baby - Rosie Jane Stewart whom everyone in Aklavik called "peanut" her whole life on account of her baby size - lived to the age of 72.

"Peanut" Stewart also became a lifelong friend of Garlund, as both lived in the hamlet into their old age.

Aklavik mayor Knute Hansen said Garlund would be missed by the entire community, and also said Garlund was a community leader.

A funeral service was scheduled to be held on July 19 at Angik school, and it was expected the gymnasium would be filled to capacity.

Heron said Aklavik itself would indeed be very different without her mother, who helped to influence the hamlet's development.

For example, Garlund was one of the first people to campaign for the Dempster Highway, and had also helped the community gain a new school building when the original one was condemned.

"She fought for Aklavik," said Heron.

"It was her home."