Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Louise Marie Monette was born in Montreal, Quebec on the 3rd of November 1938. And was, at the age of 4, she was adopted by her parents, Harvey and Victoria.
As an adventurous young lady, Louise ended up in Inuvik where she took the job as a secretary at the Samuel Hearne School. She was very proud of this move because this is where she embraced the Baha'i Faith and met the love of her life Lewis Beck.
As true Northerners, they lived in several communities during their time in the NWT. After getting married, they moved to Fort Smith where Louise took the alcohol and drug counselling program at Aurora College. As true to herself, she felt this was the program that would help her help others.
After completing the program, they moved to Wrigley to serve as the community's ADA counsellor. They were very happy and proud to serve the residents during their time there. This is where I got to meet them both. They were very much part of the community, and I enjoyed interactions with them. After several years in the community, they had the opportunity to move back to Fort Smith where she worked with Uncle Gabe's Friendship Centre.
Unfortunately, Louise started to lose her mobility in the early 2000s so both of made the hard decision to move back to Nanaimo, BC, to be closer to their two children, Eleanor and Greg.
In true Louise fashion, her disability did not slow her down. With help from her loving husband and family, she was still active in the community and family adventures until she passed away from breast cancer on Boxing Day 2021.
Louise's beautiful smile, her loving heart, and resilient spirits earned her many admiring friends in the North. She will be remembered by all who knew her and loved her. The family would like to thank everybody for the help during their difficult time.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to share some powerful words from a young lady from the community of Wrigley: Louise, I love you and miss you every day. I smile every time I think about you with a happy tear rolling down my cheek because I am forever grateful to have gotten the chance to know you. You are the wisest, beautiful, loving, and caring soul I have ever met. She will be sadly missed, Mr. Speaker. Thank you
