We are saddened at the loss of the Cree Literacy Network’s dear Elder Bette Spence, but we know that she was prepared to rejoice in the journey. In one of her own poems, she wrote:
Happy memories remain of those gone ahead.
We are only on loan to this world and to each other.
Among the happy memories I will retain are the days (in the 1980s) when she and her husband Ahab (who passed in 2001) took me home with them for lunch while I was a visitor at SIFC (now FNU).
Another is from 2009, when she came along with my sons and me to see a retrospective of Joe Fafard’s sculptures and bronzes at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. She entered the gallery, and brightly exclaimed, “Holy Cow!” For the rest of the visit, she kept careful watch for security, sneaking in touch or two whenever it was safe. Her diminished eyesight never diminished her joy.
The photo above captures Bette at a pre-Cree Literacy Network event, which she blessed with both her presence and her prayer. We were celebrating Freda Ahenakew’s honorary doctorate from the University of Manitoba in 2009. In the photo, Dolores Greyeyes Sand is laughing with Mrs Spence. I’m behind Dolores, chatting with Flora Zaharia (another mighty language warrior who passed in 2022). Arok Wolvengrey stands to Flora’s left. Lawrence (Boss) Greyeyes stands behind Bette, speaking with friends of Freda.
Bette’s family chose Gerald Kuehl’s portrait to accompany her obituary in the Winnipeg Free Press, but I’m including its text here.
RUTH ELIZABETH SPENCE (nee BEAR)
February 11, 1918 – February 22, 2025
“Let our hearts be calm. Hear our prayers, O Great Spirit, as we bow before your presence.”
Ruth Elizabeth Spence (nee Bear) was born on February 11, 1918, on the Little Red River Reserve (Montreal Lake Cree Nation), 40 miles northeast of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
“Bette” will be greeted in heaven by her parents, William Bear and Nora (Roberts) and her husband Ahab Spence.
Bette was predeceased by her sisters: Mary, Florence, Dorothy, Charlotte, Mabel and Grace and brothers: Edgar, Gordon, Allen, Leslie, Edmund and Clarence; and by her husband Ahab and children: William, June and Byron.
Bette, her siblings and Ahab were all fluent Nehiyawewin speakers.
Mom is survived by three of her six children: Janet Fontaine (her caregiver of 20-plus years), Bruce Spence, Barry Spence; son-in-law Claude Aubin; generations of grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. She is also lovingly remembered by her daughters-in-law, Wendy Murray and Barbara Bowes.
Bette was unique. She endured tuberculosis and survived hospitalization from ages 5 to 11 in Prince Albert and Fort Qu’Appelle (SK); attending day school at Little Red River Reserve then moving on to the Brandon Indian Residential School. Bette was born with limited vision which later became complete blindness. This did not deter her from taking the steam train to Toronto to attend Deaconess House following high school. She memorized the lectures because she could not see the chalkboard and her determination served her belief that education was a lifelong pursuit. Her academic life continued, and in 1979 Bette achieved her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Manitoba.
In Prince Albert, Reverend Ahab Spence lent a hand to a woman who had tripped – he had just met a Bear. Grandpa Spence and she married, and despite Bette having been told by her doctors to have no children, she and Grandpa Spence welcomed six children, and were happily married for 60 years.
Bette made homes for her family in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, from Stanley Mission, Little Pine, Paynton, Wilkie, Battleford, North Battleford, Sioux Lookout, Saskatoon, Regina (twice), Ottawa, to once more moving back to Winnipeg to live out the rest of her days.
Bette had multiple careers besides being a homemaker with cooking, baking, expert sewing and first aid skills. In Stanley Mission, Bette kept the home fires burning from her early days, when her husband used to leave to visit the trappers, to being in cities, small towns, and reserves. Like most minister’s wives of her day, she assisted in taking the lead role in youth auxiliary groups in numerous Anglican congregations. She was also house mother at the Pelican Lake Residential School, youth counselor at Dales House Regina, community developer for the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood, Native Student Advisor at the University of Manitoba, resident elder and Social Animation & Linguistics coordinator at the U of M, women’s elder at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (before it was called the First Nations University of Canada), a storyteller, a lifelong artist, a voice actor for the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina and delivered the opening and closing prayers in Cree in the First Nations film which welcomes visitors at the National Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg.
Bette prepared for her final departure by taking communion days before leaving on her heavenly journey.
Thank you to our mother for waiting until her 107th birthday to give kind words to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and to blow out candles on her cake. She lived her life in wonder at nature and the gifts of the Creator.
Rest in Peace. You are home now.
Memorial Service: Chapel Lawn Funeral Home, 4000 Portage Avenue at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, March 8, 2025. Funeral Service: Church of the Redeemer, Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Time and Date to be announced, The Pas MB.
One Response
107 years old. That is phenomenal and God thought that she did more good on this earth and that he would not call her home until she was done. Deepest sympathy to her family. I think that she was related to Eliza Spence who was my husbands great grandmother and of Cree descent.