I was on my way back from picking up a canoe in Atikokan last fall and we stopped at Kakabeka Falls and happened to be in the parking lot changing diapers when an elderly lady asked us about our new canoe. I'm the type to avoid conversation, so just made very minimal small talk - thinking she didn't really care other than wanting to ask about our red canoe (I figured that if it was green, she would have kept walking).

Halfway into the three minute conversation, she said she had lived INSIDE the Quetico for 20 or 30 years with her husband who worked for the park in some capacity (biologist or something) and raised her three (I think) kids inside the park until her husband had died. She currently lives in some senior center in Kakabeka Falls. Only after driving away, was I kicking myself that I didn't offer to sit down for some coffee and ask her about her life.

Anyone know her? Stranger things have happened than this- so I'll put it at 1 in 10 million.

Margie Walshe, Shan Walshe's wife would be my guess. Great person.

Ouch.

God Bless her for her outgoing spirit. The thought of living in a senior center after all those years in the Quetico is most depressing to me.

mjmkjun: "Ouch.

God Bless her for her outgoing spirit. The thought of living in a senior center after all those years in the Quetico is most depressing to me. "

She seemed high spirited, said she would walk to the falls everyday, no matter the weather. Just read a story online about her husband passing, had to be her.

If anyone, by chance, has a mailing address, can you send to my email? I'd like to send her a card.

thanks for sharing.

THEGrandRapids: "

mjmkjun: "Ouch.

God Bless her for her outgoing spirit. The thought of living in a senior center after all those years in the Quetico is most depressing to me. "

She seemed high spirited, said she would walk to the falls everyday, no matter the weather. Just read a story online about her husband passing, had to be her.

If anyone, by chance, has a mailing address, can you send to my email? I'd like to send her a card. "

How many Senior Centers can there be within walking distance of Kakabeka Falls? Try calling Kay Bee on Hill Street.

1991 article

The Naturalist

mjmkjun: "Ouch.

God Bless her for her outgoing spirit. The thought of living in a senior center after all those years in the Quetico is most depressing to me. "

Maybe she thinks of the senior center as a big, dry cabin and since she's still reaching the falls, she still lives with woods and water.

Pinetree: " The Naturalist "

Nice read, Pinetree. Thanks

OneMatch: "

Pinetree: " The Naturalist "

Nice read, Pinetree. Thanks"

Old article-like 1991 but still very interesting.

OneMatch: "

Pinetree: " The Naturalist "

Nice read, Pinetree. Thanks"

Old article-like 1991 but still very interesting.

missmolly: "

mjmkjun: "Ouch.


God Bless her for her outgoing spirit. The thought of living in a senior center after all those years in the Quetico is most depressing to me. "

Maybe she thinks of the senior center as a big, dry cabin and since she's still reaching the falls, she still lives with woods and water. "

Yes. That's a positive perspective. I hope she's content there. Lord knows, she's likely frail and wouldn't do well in the middle of the wilds anymore. But... I was thinking of those kids she raised and how is it that she's in a senior center.
(apologies if that comment even hints at hijacking or very off-topic.)

Pinetree: "1991 article

The Naturalist "

I met Shan Walshe in the late winter of 1984 while on a weekend road trip with some buddies while we were attending Bemidji State University. We stopped at French Lake and met this dude who said his son had just pulled a 20 pound lake trout through the ice.
He lived at French Lake with his family.