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TTHENAAGO/NAHANNI BUTTE - When Wayne Ingarfield and Cindy Buterbaugh think about leaving Nahanni Butte they know there's a lot they're going to miss.

"I'm going to miss everything except the bugs," said Buterbaugh with a laugh.

After teaching at Charles Yohin School for a total of 10 years, the couple is leaving for early retirement. Moving away won't be easy.

"It's our favourite place," said Buterbaugh when comparing Nahanni Butte to the other Northern communities they've taught in.

Buterbaugh and Ingarfield came North in 1996 when Buterbaugh took a position as the principal and only teacher in Colville Lake. Buterbaugh, from Nova Scotia, already had an established teaching career while Ingarfield, who'd left a career in the grocery business to return to school and graduate with a teaching degree in 1992, had just started.

The job in Colville Lake was a struggle. With the help of two classroom assistants, Buterbaugh was in charge of teaching 25 students in 10 different grade levels. With three young children of their own, the couple also had to deal with realities like having no indoor plumbing.

While in Colville Lake, Buterbaugh heard about Nahanni Butte. The community was a similar size but it had amenities Colville Lake didn't and, importantly, two teaching positions. The couple started at Charles Yohin School the next year.

"We really liked it right from the time we first got here," said Buterbaugh. "We really enjoyed the people and the community."

One of the community's highlights is its children, she said.

"I've said for years I think we have the nicest kids anywhere in the North," said Buterbaugh.

When they take the students to events or on school trips within the territory or to the south, the couple said they always receive comments on how respectful and well mannered the Nahanni Butte students are.

"It's one of those jobs where you come to work in the morning and it's not like you're dreading going there," said Ingarfield.

"You walk to work and you just have a good feeling about it and that's not always the case when you're teaching, but it's always been the case here."

The couple spent three years in Nahanni Butte before leaving to teach for a year each in Fort Providence and Hay River and then in New Brunswick for two. The couple returned to Nahanni Butte in 2004 and stayed for another seven years.

Being in a community for multiple years gives teachers the advantage of getting to know the school and then having time to take on additional projects, said Buterbaugh. Between them, the couple have developed multiple extra-curricular programs including the annual grayling fly fishing trip to Kakisa and the cross-country ski program.

When they arrived the school had skis but only a basic program. Over time, and with support from the band, more skis were purchased along with track-setting equipment and a snowmobile, allowing trails to be cut. The school now has the ability to lay eight kilometres of set trails.

"It's a program we hope is continued," said Ingarfield.

Ingarfield was also instrumental in campaigning to get a gymnasium built in the community. When the campaign started in 1995, government officials said we'd never get a gym because the community isn't large enough, said Buterbaugh.

Perseverance paid off, however, and the building was completed in December 2008. Since then students have excelled in both badminton and soccer.

"It's been a great self-esteem builder," said Ingarfield.

Buterbaugh and Ingarfield thanked Cathryn Bertrand, the school's special needs assistant, and Laura Vital, the Slavey language teacher, for their support along with everyone else in the community and the region who has helped them over the years. Buterbaugh said they have lots of great stories to tell and have had lots of adventures.

The couple will be missed, said Terry Jaffray, the superintendent of the Dehcho Divisional Education Council.

"Wayne and Cindy are special people and they made a really good connection between the school and the community of Nahanni Butte, and that's important," Jaffray said.

The couple enriched the students' learning through travel and extracurricular activities and also contributed to teaching and learning on a regional level, she said.

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