Teacher receives lifetime-achievement award

You have to move pretty fast if you want to keep up with Nancy Jones.
The 64-year-old school teacher has always been fast and even though Father Time is slowly gaining on her, she still has a few moves left.
Earlier this month, Jones slowed down long enough to be presented with a special lifetime-achievement award at the 18th annual convention of the Minnesota Indian Education Association (MIEA) banquet in Mahnomen, Mn.
The award was one more in a remarkable list that spans over 30 years. She has spent the last 25 of those years teaching the Ojibwe language and culture at Mine Centre Public School near her home at Red Gut First Nation.
The latest award did not come as the complete surprise her family and friends had assumed it would be, but was a considerable honour nonetheless.
“I had heard rumours about it (the award) last year, but I didn’t let on,” Jones confessed. “People talk sometimes when they think no one’s listening, but I don’t miss too much,” she added.
Jones says what she will miss most is the classroom when she retires next year, but she has no intentions of slowing down.
“I’m sure I’ll be involved in education for awhile and I still have my traplines,” she remarked.
Jones was born on May 1, 1939 and right from the start she was in a hurry. In fact, she was in such a hurry, her mother didn’t have time to get to the hospital in Mine Centre and wound up giving birth in an old railway shack that still stands today. She was raised by her grandmother and went on to have eight children of her own, of whom six are still living. She also has 22 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Over the years, she has seen two of her children and 10 of her grandchildren come through her classroom. Her eldest son and daughter were born at home on the reserve but her twin boys were born right on the trapline, with only her husband in attendance.
Jones had little formal training as a teacher, but that didn’t slow her down either. She taught Ojibwe crafts at Rainy River Community College in International Falls for 10 years and in 1984, she was awarded a teaching degree from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. In addition, she served for six years with the Ivik Youth Services and eight years with the United Native Friendship Centre in Fort Frances, where she again taught Ojibwe crafts.
Her list of achievements and awards is comprehensive and diverse.
In 1971, she was recognized by the Ontario Trappers Association when she set a record for the fasted-handled beaver pelt when she skinned a fully-intact carcass and had the hide stretched and ready for tanning in just 22 minutes. That record stands to this day. Jones said the average time for such a feat is about 45 minutes.
The following year, she received another OTA award for the best-handled marten pelt.
In 1973 Jones was recognized as Woman of the Year by the Fort Frances Business and Professional Women’s Association and in 1991, she was picked as Parent of the Year by the MIEA. That same year, the Grand Council of Treaty #3 chiefs chose her as the outstanding citizen of the year.
Jones’ accomplishments have not gone unrecognized by the government either. In March this year, she was presented with the Queen’s Jubilee Medal by Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton in recognition of her outstanding contributions to her fellow citizens. Hampton has fond memories of the occasion.
“If you look at her résumé, it’s obvious Nancy (Jones) is an outstanding person,” recalled Hampton from his office in Toronto.
Hampton was not surprised to learn of her MIEA award and noted it was typical of the modest person he has known for 20 years that she would receive such recognition from abroad.
“As so often happens, she is more recognized outside her own community,” he remarked.
For her part, Jones says she intends to continue doing what she has been doing all her life. She still maintains a trapline and still smokes meat and processes wild rice in the traditional ways of her ancestors. She is not overwhelmed by her celebrity status and intends to carry on as she always has. She attributes her accomplishments and her values to her upbringing.
“Now I can do the things I used to do,” she said. “Everything I’ve learned, I’ve learned from watching and helping my grandmother,” she said.
Now it’s her turn to pass on those values and traditions to the younger generations, but they’ll have to stay on their toes to keep up. This lady still moves pretty fast.