An interview with my late Uncle Isadore "Happy" Wah-shee

Isadore Wah-Shee:

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            I know lots of people in Yellowknife...Lac la Marte, got lots of friends, Rae Lakes, especially where I come from…I went all around with them, in the bush, dogteam, fishing. I know them real good. My name is Isadore Wah‑Shee but they call me “Happy”.

            When you get married it's hard, eh? I don't know what day I got married. I dream when I was small. I dreamed about this woman, where I got married. Name was Melanie Wah‑shee. I dream about her but I never talked to her. Anyway, I was too busy... 

            I worked with my Dad, spring hunting. Any place he want me to go, I go with my Dad...then I got tired in the bush. Then one day, on a Christmas, I was having a party...Then that woman I was dreaming about, the one that's my wife, she came in!

            My Dad told me, “Don't be lazy.”

            I didn't like it, but I listened to my Dad.

            The dog team used to haul wood...My dog team listened. When I say, “Whoah” they stop. When I say, “Hah” they go, eh? “March!” Boy, I had a good leader.

            [Next Christmas] Then, that time, my girlfriend came here again. She sit beside me then she told me, “I want to talk to you.”

            I told her, “Why you want to talk to me?”

            She asked me to get married, eh?  I said, “I can't get married cuz I don't have enough to get married...How about Christmas? I have to have money. If we have three hundred dollars we'll get married. Anyhow, I'm broke.”

            “Okay.”

            Then in the springtime, I went down to Yellowknife to work for a lodge: Guiding. I flew down the end of May. I came back September. I make over a thousand dollars. So I was certified. Straight cash! American money! They flew me back to Yellowknife. That time everything was cheap. You know cigarettes? Used to be fifty cents. Beer, fifty cents. Takes long time to last when you put down twenty dollars. Hotel used to be fifty dollars for one night. Taxi from here [Fort Rae]‑‑right now $120‑‑ from Yellowknife to here.

            “Ace Cab” they called it, “Lucky 7.” Used to be no road from here to Yellowknife. Only Lucky 7. So I don't know how I was going to get there...

            There was no boats. There was a barge. One time, used to be Ray Rock Mine. So I put all my stuff in the boat. Big barge, uh? They haul everything, equipment to Ray Rock. You know Marian Lake? From there they haul stuff to Ray Rock Mine. We left about ten in the morning. Came here about two in the morning. Goes slow. Big waves! We stop at the old fort for a while. Boy, big waves.  I came back with about thirteen hundred. Then my girlfriend came in saying, “Let's get married.”

            I say, “Okay.”

            That's where I got married!

            This was told to me by my uncle, Isadore, in the J'eiko Motel in Fort Rae, NWT. It was August 27, 1992. Isadore is from the Tlicho Nation. Tlicho is his first language, and it’s true: everywhere he goes, people call him “Happy.”