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AKLAVIK
At 97 years old, Mary Kendi from Aklavik is the oldest recipient of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee medal in the NWT.

She was awarded the medal Oct. 12 in Aklavik, in front of a crowd that watched her wheel into the centre of the room to receive her medal. Also receiving medals on Oct. 12 were Barbara Archie, Dean McLeod and Nellie Cournoyea.

Born March 4, 1915, Kendi remembers travelling the Mackenzie by boat to go to school. She was six when she was sent to boarding school in Hay River.

She stayed there for three years before she went back home and remembers people getting sick.

"I was learning but I came home," she said.

"There was no school around here, there was nothing. We would fish, hunt and trap."

Without a fridge, they would catch, gut and scale the fish before staking them to make dry fish, said Kendi. It was their way of preserving them to last through the winter.

"There was always something to do," said Kendi.

"Mary spent many years living on the land," said Robert Alexie Jr.

"She's a well-respected elder in the community and a great inspiration and teacher to many generations."

The medal is not the first time Kendi has been recognized for her contributions. In 1992 she received the Wise Woman Award from the Status of Women Council of the NWT.

"This is one way to recognize many years of community service," said Alexie.

Presented with bouquets of flowers flown in from Inuvik, Kendi was all smiles as she was flanked by her granddaughter, Darlene Kendi, and sister, Margaret Vittrekwa.

"It's so beautiful," said Vittrekwa.

"She's the only sister I have left, there were 12 of us in the family and now only us."

When Vittrekwa heard Kendi was receiving a diamond jubilee medal she said she was amazed.

"She'd never think she was getting it, there's family here and more in the south that can't be here but they're all thinking of her today."

Darlene Kendi, Mary's first granddaughter, stepped off a plane from Toronto just a few hours prior to the ceremony.

She and Vittrekwa will be taking care of Kendi in their home community of Aklavik.

"She took care of me when I was younger and now I'm taking care of her," Darlene said.

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