Pilot, trapper, hunting guide, sled-dog racer—Betty Berger Lessard carved an extraordinary life for herself out of the rugged wilderness of the Canadian Shield.
Born in Fort Frances in July, 1915, Lessard spent almost all of her 82 years living in a remote log cabin on the pristine shores of Namakan Lake.
She survived encounters with bears, wolves, and a charging moose while navigating thousands of miles of backwoods and waters.
She is credited with having saved at least one man’s life.
Lessard charmed many a young man, but tragically lost her husband in a boating accident.
Lessard, who died in 1997, was a strong-minded woman of independent spirit for whom the convention of male and female roles held little importance.
One of her neighbours said of her, “She didn’t just survive in the wilderness, she lived in it.”
Her improbable story, “A Bit of a Legend in These Parts: The Life of Betty Berger Lessard,” is told by Neil McQuarrie, a resident of Brandon, Man. who grew up in Fort Frances.
“I have long known about Betty and the life she had lived, and wanted to write about it,” said McQuarrie, who will be signing copies of the book at Northwoods Gallery & Gifts here this Saturday (Dec. 1) from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
McQuarrie was able to capture Lessard’s story through published articles in newspapers and magazines, as well as interviews with Lessard’s relatives. He was given access to old family photographs and used many of them to illustrate his account.
McQuarrie has written two other books. The first was “On the Allan Cup Trail: The Story of the Fort Frances Canadians” while the second was “Fort Frances: The Story of a Town and Its People,” the town’s centennial history.
For three years he also wrote “Recollections,” a monthly column for the Fort Frances Times.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
