Return Call to the Arctic

By Sally Scales

BEADED STOLE — Archdeacon Don Wootten holds the beaded cariboo stole that was presented to him by the congregation on his first Christmas in Fort McPherson in 1963. He wore it when he preached there in 2008.

 

 

When Archdeacon Don Wootten of Salmon Arm visited his former parish in Fort McPherson in August 2008 once again, the people called him Gihki, which is Gwitchin for minister. Don had served St. Matthew's Mission in Fort McPherson from 1963 to 1971. He, his wife Peggy and their children, lived in a very old rectory overlooking the Peel River. The whole congregation was native except for one or two white teachers, nurses and Mounties. At that time, the first service was in Gwitchin and Don required an interpreter and the second one was in English. On his visit in August he preached the sermon and didn't need an interpreter. The gospel was read in both languages and the hymns were sung in Gwitchin, v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. People sat where they wanted, and not women on one side and men on the other, as before.

The whole town knew Don was coming and 50 people were in church that Sunday and they had a potluck dinner after the service. Don had trouble recognizing people because many were children 38 years ago. He had to ask who their parents were. And the people who were his age when he served were now elderly.

One came up to him and said, "Mr. Wootten, you gave us a church," to which he replied, "No, you built it." The chief had donated 12 large trees, which were placed on the ground as the foundation to prevent the church from sinking into the permafrost when the top layer thawed in the summer. They cut logs for the church in winter and floated them down the river in summer. One family had a little sawmill so they made their own lumber.

In the four days he was there, staying in the rectory, he visited people and walked through town. A special time was visiting his daughter’s gravesite beside the church.

In March 2008, Don's beloved wife Peggy passed away. They had been married for 53 years and had always travelled together. For the trip to the Arctic, Don asked Ron Dewald, a friend and former parishioner in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, if he wanted to travel with him. Ron had taken early retirement in the spring. The two men had never travelled together and now they were going to sleep in the same room for three weeks.

The last Sunday of August, after Don took the service in Monte Creek, near Kamloops, where he serves twice a month, the two men left in Don's Ford van with new tires. They drove to Prince George, then to Whitehorse where they spent two days with Bishop Terry Buckle and slept in the old log rectory. Ruth Carrol, who has a daily CBC radio program in Gwitchin, interviewed Don. The program is broadcast from Alaska all across the MacKenzie Delta. They reminisced about Don's years in the north. Her husband is Martin Carrol, an Anglican priest in Whitehorse. When Don was in Fort McPherson in 1969 he hired Ruth to be a childcare worker in the hostel.

In Dawson City, the two men spent a night with retired priest Ken Snider and then they drove over the gravelled Dempster Highway. They stopped for gas at Eagle Plain. At Rock River they stopped to see where Don used to go by dog team to hunt caribou. They saw a beautiful grizzly. The mountains were ablaze with fall colours.

On their way back they took a side trip by bus and train from Whitehorse to Skagway and back. They visited in Terrace, Prince Rupert, Port Hardy, Cowichan Bay and Vancouver. Ron flew home to Battleford and Don drove to Salmon Arm. He was SO tired! It was a long three-week trip for a 77 year-old man.