The Stoney Nakoda Nation mourns the loss of Elder Lucy Poucette who was called home by the Great Spirit on a beautiful autumn day, Oct. 4, 2014.
At 92 years of age, Elder Poucette was among the last of our ‘Old Ones.’ A woman committed to her traditional teachings and Nakoda values, she was among those who did not attend residential school and so held core teachings and values that would be considered truly traditional.
A skilled buckskin maker, tanner and quilter, she created beautiful blankets, moccasins, moss bags and beaded jewelry that many still hold as cherished tokens. A hard worker since her youth, Poucette taught the skill of tanning hides at the Stoney Wilderness Center in the early ‘80s where she passed on her teachings to many young women. In her younger years, she laboured, as did many Stoney people, for area farmers clearing fields for farming.
In her lifetime, Poucette had witnessed Stoney society in constant change. In her youth, the primary mode of transportation was horse and carriage. It was by horse and carriage that she and her family would travel to Banff each summer to attend the Banff Indian Days and to the familial hunting camps each summer. Born at a hunting camp near Sundre in 1922, she lived in cabins built by Stoney men with no electricity or running water until modern housing came to Morley in the late 1960s. Elder Poucette lived at a time when life was a daily hardship, but like many others she endured.
The matriarch of the Poucette family, Elder Poucette is remembered by family and friends as a person who supported her family and relatives. Her presence will be missed at the Sun Dances she would always attend bearing gifts, which she would give to each relative participating. However, her presence will be missed most of all by her family who to this day continue their hunting camps near Sundre, Alta. each summer. In days past, men hunted while women took time to gather berries and tell stories. It was an educational process that continues to this day for some families and it was these camps she most enjoyed into her later years.
Elder Poucette leaves as her legacy an immediate family of 107 people from her children to her great-great grandchildren. A proud mother and family matriarch, Poucette supported her family and was proud of their various accomplishments. Fond memories include travelling to Albuquerque, New Mexico to attend the Gathering of Nations Powwow where her granddaughter became a world champion jingle dress dancer.
As her health declined in recent years, her family struggled to keep her at home. However, long-term care became necessary in 2010. Her family continued to visit her throughout her stay and would often take her to Lake Minnewanka for Sunday picnics.
The family takes comfort in that she now joins loved ones in the Spirit World and one can only imagine the vision of this angel flying…beyond the heavens. She was among the last of the ‘Old Ones’ and may her spirit soar.
