Nurse. Golfer. Métis. Mother. Born Jan. 17, 1936, in Eriksdale, Man.; died March 24, 2020, in Victoria; of vascular dementia; aged 84
Helen Power had a discerning eye. She could identify when a picture was even slightly crooked on a wall and could play a mean game of garbage-can basketball. When she took up golf in her 60s, with her wonky swing and eagle eye, she became “Hole in One Helen” for her ability to one-shot at her local par-three golf course.
Helen came from an illustrious Métis family with strong roots to the Riel Rebellion in 1869 and the North-West Rebellion of 1885. Louis Riel came by for dinner and to chat with her great grandfather Jean Baptiste Beauchemin. A great uncle, as a young boy, witnessed the Thomas Scott execution in 1870. Another great uncle received a seven-year sentence at the time that Riel was hanged. In southwest Winnipeg, you can find a park named after the Beauchemin family.
Helen completed Grade 9 at her one-room country school where she and her siblings were discouraged from speaking French. Speaking English – thereby demonstrating their cultural assimilation – ensured they were not sent off to residential schools.
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