WINNIFRED CRAWFORD (VOISEY) A

Adjust Text Size: A+ A-

WINNIFRED CRAWFORD (nee VOISEY) A celebration of the life of Winnie Crawford (nee Voisey), will take place Tuesday, August 21, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Sturgeon Creek Community Club at 210 Rita Street in St. James, Winnipeg. Winnie passed away December 12, 2011 at the age of 91. Winnie was born December 9, 1920, Cape Chidley, on the northernmost tip of Labrador, second youngest in a large family. The family moved eventually to Tavani on the west coast of Hudson Bay. While Winnie's older siblings went off to residential school, her mother decided to keep her home after Grade 2. At her side, Winnie gained a practical education, steeped in traditional skills of northern women. She became an expert at sewing mukluks and mittens, but could handle a rifle as well as any man. Like all children growing up in the Arctic, she found fun on the land and sea. Northern children love to run across the ice pans - large floating slabs of ice - risking an icy dip. Her mother had warned her not to do it, but Winnie, of course did it anyway. She actually fell in once and almost drowned, but the worst of it was the scolding. When she was only 17, she married Thomas Crawford, fur-trading partner of her older brother Henry. She and Tom first lived in Repulse Bay, where Nancy and Jean were born. When the girls were small, a pet polar bear cub became part of the family. Their next posting was Payne Bay. When her third child (Bill) was due to be born, Winnie had to travel by dogsled through a storm to get to the hospital in Fort Chimo (Kuujjuac) to give birth. Later northern postings included Sugluk, where Tom Jr. was born, Spence Bay and Coral Harbour on Southhampton Island. Wherever the family moved, Winnie became a well-respected community member. She was often called on to deliver babies, stitch up cuts, and counsel young people about marriage and housekeeping. She taught sewing and acted many times as an interpreter, being fluent in many regional dialects of Inuktitut. The Crawfords moved to Churchill in 1961 where Christopher was born. Summers were spent at camps on Button Bay, fishing for char and hunting seals. They moved to Winnipeg in 1966. The family lived on Strathcona Street in the West End, then Ainslie Street in St. James. Winnie took up the challenge of learning to drive. She derived joy from watching her sons play hockey, a pastime she kept up enthusiastically with her grandsons, Christopher Jr. and Jason. Tom Sr. passed away in 1977, but Winnie carried on with quiet independence. She had a wood stove installed in the basement, and enjoyed any chance to gather, split and stack her own wood. She took up a job in the laundry at the Birchwood Inn, and was known as a hardworking employee. As grandchildren came along, Winnie's busy hands kept them clothed in parkas, slippers, mukluks, mitts and pyjamas. She would proudly carry them around in her amout (baby parka). Her chocolate chip cookies, butter tarts and sweet and sour ribs were favourites. Very often a shipment of char or caribou would come from the north, which meant an extra special meal was served up for family and friends. Winnie was able to remain at home for all but her last month, thanks to the care of son Chris and daughter-in-law Carol. She leaves behind Nancy Willis (Edmonton), Jean and George Thomas (Regina), and Bill and Agatha Crawford (Repulse Bay), Tom and Sandra Crawford (Thompson), and Chris and Carol Crawford (Winnipeg). Grandchildren include Harry Willis, Winnie, Donna, Nancy Jean and Henry Crawford, Leah, Siobhan and Hugh Crawford, and Christopher, Victoria and Jason Crawford. Winnie has 14 great-grand-children as well.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Aug 04, 2012