LUTSEL K'E/SNOWDRIFT
Vanessa Marlowe was passionate about puzzles. She loved listening to music as she searched for each piece's rightful place in a broken picture.
Tobie, left, and Vanessa Marlowe died suddenly last week in Lutsel K’e. The couple’s family remembers Vanessa for her loving nature and Tobie for his willingness to help when someone was in need. - photo courtesy of Facebook |
Now, a slew of finished projects lie around her home and unopened puzzle boxes await her return.
Vanessa and Tobie Marlowe died suddenly in their Lutsel K'e home last week. RCMP found their bodies on the evening of Feb. 10.
Local police and the territory's major crime unit are now investigating their deaths, which they consider suspicious, with assistance from the NWT Office of the Chief Coroner.
Tobie and Vanessa's family members shared how they want the couple to be remembered in an e-mail Vanessa's sister, Eileen Marlowe, sent on their behalf to News/North.
In the note, the family states the couple loved to help others and enjoyed being out on the land.
While in the wilderness, Vanessa relished the serenity while Tobie could be found fishing, hunting and trapping. In fact, he had recently returned from a job monitoring caribou.
Tobie was involved with the Canadian Rangers and was among the group's top shots, according to his family.
He also lived an active life and had a competitive nature - he played hockey regularly but quit after he injured his ankle.
"He was not a lazy man," Tobie's brother, Sonny Marlowe, added in the e-mail.
"He was not one to wait around for others to get things done. When something had to be done, he would do it."
Both Tobie and Vanessa enjoyed making dry meat and Tobie was considered the family cook.
Vanessa, the second youngest among her five sisters, was never one to fuss over her appearance. She loved simplicity.
Nonetheless, she let her sisters give her a makeover now and then. After they dressed her, curled and styled her hair and put makeup on her, Vanessa would walk to the mirror.
She'd spend a couple minutes observing herself, then she would wash off the makeup and flatten her hair, gel it and tie it back. For her sisters, moments like these will remain some of their funniest memories of her.
They wrote they will also remember her for the love she gave her 12 nephews and three nieces. She babied them all and always stood up for them.
Vanessa volunteered regularly with the Girls Group, a wellness program that meets once a week to do baking, sewing, crafts and various outdoor activities.
"She liked visiting people," said her sister Eileen.
"She'd be on one side of town and then half an hour later she'd be on the opposite end of town."
In her spare time, she also enjoyed beading and making bracelets. Vanessa loved Tobie dearly, her family writes.
The couple leave behind a teenage son.
Tobie, who was adopted, leaves behind his brother, sister, a niece and nephew, biological mother and many extended family members.
Vanessa leaves behind her nephews, nieces, mother, father, brother and five sisters, among other family members.
They were two good-hearted people who were loved by many, wrote Eileen.
