Buffalo Airways family matriarch dies

The matriarch of the Buffalo Airways family has died.

Bertha McBryan died in Edmonton Wednesday of a heart attack. She was 87 years old.

McBryan was well-known across the North. She was married for more than 60 years to the first mayor of Hay River, N.W.T., Red McBryan, who also passed away earlier this year.

Her son, Joe McBryan,known as Buffalo Joe,appears on the show Ice Pilots NWT. Hesaid she loved her grandchildren.

"And she was getting in to the great grandchild stage. She really, really, really enjoyed having grandchildren around her. She used to sit up with the grandchildren like she was holding court, like a queen in her court," said Joe.

Born Bertha Watts, she met her husband on Pilot's Monument in Yellowknife. They fell in love as teenagers and raised eight children. John Tees, Red McBryan's nephew, described the couple as 'two peas in a pod'.

"She's gone to catch up to Red for Christmas. That song 'I'll be home for Christmas' has a whole new meaning for me," said Tees.

McBryan was also well-known for the shuttle she ran between Latham Island and Yellowknife for years before a bridge was built. Her son Joe said his mother would charge five cents for the boattaxi, which she called a 'scow'.

Family described Bertha as a person everyone liked to talk to.

"The type of person who could listen to them, share with them, joke with them and share their problems without being judgemental," said Joe McBryan.

Suzan Marie was just nine years old when she met Bertha, who was the cook at the receiving home where Susan lived.

"She showed unconditional love to me, and it probably helped me shape how I live and treat people," she said.

A funeral service will be held at the Roman Catholic church in Hay River, N.W.T., on Dec. 21 at 2:00 p.m. MT.