DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE - The story of a grave in Fort Providence that was almost lost to time and is still a mystery to many came full circle last weekend.

On July 31, Virginia Andrew, Ellen Wilson and Christina Wilkinson arrived in the hamlet, having driven all the way from Mayerthorpe, Alta., to visit the grave site of Robert Lee Wilson. Wilson is buried on the banks of the Mackenzie River across from the RCMP detachment.

Christina Wilkinson, left, granddaughter, Virginia Andrew, daughter, and Ellen Wilson, daughter-in-law of Robert Lee Wilson, stand at his grave site in Fort Providence. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

"It was emotional," said Andrew who is Wilson's last surviving child.

The story of Wilson's death and of the grave itself stretches back 64 years and some details have been lost to time.

Wilson was born on Sept. 10, 1906. He married and he and his wife Beatrice had four children, two boys and two girls. The family lived in Barons, Alta., on the prairie. When Andrew was eight, they moved north to Evansburg, Alta.

Andrew remembers while in Evansburg her father worked in sawmills in the winter and hauled lumber. He had jobs that took him away from home a lot of the time, she said.

At some point Wilson, who was a trucker and likely a mechanic, began working for Spinney Trucking Services Ltd. The job took Wilson to the Northwest Territories where he did a lot of work in the Yellowknife and Fort Providence areas.

Wilson had been in the territory for approximately a year when tragedy struck. He was on a barge that was moving trucks and heavy equipment near Axe Point on Mills Lake.

According to family history, Wilson was accidentally hit on the head and fell overboard. He surfaced under the barge and was dead by the time his body was pulled out of the water. It was Sept. 16, 1946 and he was 40.

News of the death reached the family through a telegraph sent by a family friend who was also in the North. Andrew was 13 at the time.

Her mother didn't have the money to transport the body home, so Wilson was buried in what the family thought was a RCMP grave overlooking the Mackenzie River.

"Part of it was right," she said.

Although Andrew's mother and siblings talked about coming to visit the grave site it was something they never managed to do. The only family member who'd seen the grave was one of Andrew's uncles in the early 1970s. Pictures taken at the time show a low mound with a deteriorating white cross.

The story of Robert and the grave site were almost lost in Fort Providence.

"Except for some of the elders many people didn't know who this mystery person was," said Susan Christie, the hamlet's senior administrative officer.

Through oral history some community members knew the grave held a non-aboriginal, non-local man who died while working on a barge. The assumption was he wasn't buried in the local cemetery because it was strictly for Roman Catholics at the time, Christie said.

Along with Wilson's history the grave site almost disappeared when its upkeep stopped. The grave was pulled back from oblivion 12 years ago when Const. Claire Kines, who was posted in the hamlet, became curious about the site.

With the help of Albert Lafferty, the hamlet's senior administrative officer at the time, Kines conducted research and found out Wilson's name and a bit of his history.

Later in 2000, Lafferty found a website posting by a former RCMP member named Fred Clark who had worked in Fort Providence from 1946 to 1947.

Clark had buried Wilson and was curious about the state of his grave. As a result of Clark's inquiries, the hamlet and the RCMP detachment worked together to place a fence around the grave and mark it with a white wooden cross that includes a plaque detailing Wilson's life.

Christie said she was amazed when she received a call from Wilson's relatives last month inquiring about the grave and its location.

"They were very touched to learn he was being taken care of," Christie said.

"It's really nice to know this long lost grave is being visited after all of these years. It's a heartwarming chapter."

Andrew said the family is very thankful the grave has been cared for. Andrew, along with Ellen Wilson, one of Wilson's daughter-in laws, and Christina Wilkinson, a granddaughter, had been expecting to have to search for the site.

"I can't believe the interest," said Andrew, referring to all of the people who spoke with them about the grave during their visit to the hamlet. Now that they've made the initial trip, Andrew expects that many more of Wilson's relatives will be travelling to Fort Providence to visit the grave.

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