Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I will do my statement in loving memory of Virginia Lafferty. Mr. Speaker, today I wish to send my condolences out to the family of Virginia Lafferty. Everybody called her Virginie.
Mr. Speaker, Virginie was born on February 13, 1935, on the Hay River Reserve and passed away on January 4, 2017. Virginie married Louis Mickey Lafferty in Fort Resolution and lived there for the rest of her life.
Mickey and Virginie adopted their first son, Edward Overvold, and then went on to have Cecile, Doug, Louis, Lloyd, Ralph, Michael, Linda, and Mary Olive. They also raised many of their grandchildren.
Mr. Speaker, Virginie was a very kind person. When I was a very young boy, my family relocated from Rocher River to Fort Resolution. As a boy I was a regular visitor to all the households that were from Rocher River and relocated to Fort Resolution.
Mickey and Virginie's house was the first Fort Resolution household I began to visit regularly. Virginie was always very kind to me and my brother. My brother was also with me visiting the Laffertys. All of the other children would be visiting, and she would be kind to all of us.
Later on in life, Virginie began to lose her hearing and her memory they say; although when I would walk into the house, her son Doug, who was caring for her would say, "Mom, you have a visitor. Do you know who it is?" She would take a quick look at me and say, "Yeah. That is Tom." She would never forgot me, even though she was old and in her last days and was not well.
Virginie will be missed by all her family around the Hay River Reserve, her family in Fort Resolution, and her children and her grandchildren. It was very difficult for the grandchildren, one of whom is my son, to see their grandmother and their mother sick. She passed away, but she is in a better place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Our prayers and thoughts are with the family as well. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.
