A memorial was held at Sacred Heart Cathedral on Saturday to honour Mary Gouchie, a Lheidli T'enneh elder who died in hospice Jan. 24 at the age of 97 after a brief battle with cancer.
Gouchie was born on Feb. 15, 1921.
Presiding over the funeral mass was Father Rectorino Tolentino and offering the blessing of the gathering was daughter Janet Kozak.
Darlene McIntosh, a Lheidli T'enneh elder and cultural advisor, gave the eulogy and described Gouchie as an elder, mentor, friend, keeper of the Lheidli dialect of the Dakelh (Carrier) language, wisdom keeper and matriarch of her extensive family.
To preserve the language of her people, Gouchie worked extensively with her people, the city, the university and college to preserve and document the Carrier language.
"Mary demonstrated many virtues - humility, kindness, patience and charity, unconditional love and acceptance of all people," McIntosh said.
Everyone who knew Gouchie was blessed, she added.
McIntosh went on to say Gouchie met and married Dan Gouchie, had 10 children who had many grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren.
"She loved them all the same," McIntosh said and talked about how Gouchie would always say if people forgot the past they would never find the future.
"Mary was and is love," McIntosh said.
Mayor Lyn Hall made his tribute to Gouchie who he had known for more than 20 years. He offered sympathy and prayers to her family and fondly recalled one particular thing she liked to say when she saw him. He said he was reminded of it by one of Gouchie's grandchildren when Hall and wife Lorelle visited Gouchie in hospice during her last days.
"She would say 'he may be the mayor of Prince George but I am the queen of Prince George'," Hall said with a smile, acknowledging that being reigning queen was far more prominent than his role with the city.
Hall said that during his time on the School District 57 board he got to know Gouchie better as she would stress the importance of having an Aboriginal school component within the district. Ultimately, Nusdeh Yoh (House of the Future) became the Aboriginal Choice program, that was put in place in September 2010.
"I always walked away knowing more than I did before we talked," Hall said of his many conversations with Gouchie over the years.
Kym Gouchie, granddaughter of Mary and well known singer-songwriter, presented her Atsoo (grandmother) story and song, sharing memories of her time with her grandmother and what it meant to her.
Jo-Anne Berezanski and Miranda Seymour read poems to honour Gouchie, Buddy Gouchie sang Amazing Grace and then prayers were said beginning with Ron Polillo who read from the Book of Wisdom in the Bible.
Father Tolentino concluded the memorial by saying a few words about Gouchie.
"The words said by loved ones in the eulogy and the tributes, the newspaper articles published in the paper, all testify about who Mary is to everyone," Tolentino said. "In my own reading of these stories and listening to the stories shared today and my own understanding of that the life of Mary showed she was a good steward of everything that was given to her in her life. She took good care of whatever was entrusted to her and Mary is just a beautiful person."
He spoke about how Gouchie was a positive role model and shared her knowledge freely, especially when it came to passing on the First Nations language.
"But it wasn't just her native language she shared with others but also the language of love," he said.
In lieu of flowers, the extensive family of Mary Gouchie asked that people please consider donating to the Prince George Hospice Society to honour her memory.
