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Friends remember bushman Jim Essery Ice strip builder, plane mechanic and prospector dies in boating accident Simon Whitehouse Northern News Services Published Wednesday, Sept 05, 2012
The 58-year-old from Yellowknife ended up in the water Saturday while crossing Prosperous Lake in his boat after spending the day clearing a trail and cutting power lines for a local telecom company, according to a close friend who asked not to be identified.
Witnesses at the lake's boat launch reported seeing a motorboat spinning wildly in tight circles on the water. Essery was found soon afterward lying face-down in the water nearby, according to police. An autopsy is currently being conducted in Edmonton to determine a cause of death.
Friends, family and co-workers remember a "real Northern character" and frontiersman who worked for Buffalo Airways on and off for more than 30 years. Company president Joe McBryan said Essery first came to the North from northern Ontario in the early 1970s. After a brief stint working for Cominco Mines, he worked in Fort Smith as a claim staker and prospector in 1973. Over the years he developed his skills as an aircraft mechanic, which he put to use at Buffalo Airways, although he was never certified.
It was his ability to set up and maintain camps in remote areas of the North and endure bush life that made Essery a standout, said McBryan.
"If we had a fuel haul to a camp or had to mobilize a diamond drill camp or an exploration camp, then we would bring Jimmy in right away," said McBryan. "We would send him out and he would build the air strip for us and keep the air strip open.
"Jimmy was always able to take just his sleeping bag, his grubstake and his tent and go out and set up a camp for you. The sort of bushman he was you just won't see again because it is a lost art."
Essery made national headlines after fighting for survival during a prospecting trip out on the Barrens in 1980. Essery walked back to his exploration camp 190 km north of Baker Lake during a winter storm with frost-bitten feet after spending two nights burrowed in the snow. He had to have all the toes on one foot removed as well as two others due to the incident
"The guy never complained once and went right back to work in the bush," recalled longtime friend Trevor Teed, who was also on the trip. "He still had the endurance and speed of a healthy man."
Essery's talent in building ice strips and setting up camps for newcomers was legendary enough to be featured in the Ice Pilots NWT television series.
"There was one episode of Ice Pilots where I got him to build an ice strip out at Sunrise Lake," said Mikey McBryan, referring to the Season 3, Episode 11 show titled "Ice Strip," which aired earlier this year. "He did it in 48 hours, which was absolutely crazy. I still can't believe he did it."
In recent years Essery had battled colon cancer and believed he had beaten it.
"Jimmy always lived his life right on the edge and he was very confident he would live forever," said Joe. "He beat cancer twice and he really wanted to live. He was a friend to many, many people because he never had anything bad to say about anybody."
Teed said Essery's physical fitness was a big part of what made the bushman such a unique character.
"If he was an athlete or a boxer or runner he would have championship endurance," said Teed.
"He was physically tough and a had a spirit and endurance level that wasn't met by many people that I have seen in my life."
Essery was known for his compassion toward the less fortunate on the streets of Yellowknife and would frequently hand out cigarettes and joke with people hanging around the front of the post office.
His favourite plane was the DC-4.
As an Ojibwa, Jimmy grew up in the small community of Oba, Ont., 90 km east of Hearst, where he was born. He attended a one-room schoolhouse in a church during his grade school years and later went to Timmins High and Vocational School. He is survived by his younger siblings, brothers Raymond and Robert (Buddy), both of Yellowknife, and sister Carolyn (Loutitt) of Batchawana Bay, Ont. He is also survived by his ex-partner Lorraine Tees and daughter Diane Essery of Yellowknife, ex-partner Lucille Casaway of Medicine Hat, Alta., and son Tyler Casaway and stepson John Casaway, both of Yellowknife.
He is predeceased by his parents, mother Etta May (Greeley) who died in 1981, and William (Bill) Alfred Essery, who died in 1967.
Funeral arrangements were still being made at press time.
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