Walter George Bosum July 31, 1968 – February 11, 2018

If you ever saw a group of people standing in a circle and Walter was in it, you would have heard them laughing.

If you ever drove by his house, most likely, you would see a pair of legs sticking out from under his truck. They were Walter’s.

If you were ever out with Walter and something wasn’t working – like a skidoo that broke down, or a car that couldn’t handle a winter morning – you didn’t need to worry. He would just say, “If a guy invented this thing, another guy can fix it.” And then he’d sit down and do just that.

If you had a problem, Walter had a solution. He could handle broken machine the way you handle a piece of toast when you spread butter on it. He loved fixing things – almost more than having them fixed and running properly.

If you were out hunting with Walter and a group of youth and you saw a moose or a bear, Walter would say, “Hey! Put your gun down. Let the young guys practice.” He was a great, great hunter. One of our best. He had expertise and had mastered our traditional ways. But hunting for him was not about the kill. It was about making sure the next generation knew what he knew. About keeping the traditions alive and in our blood.

If you look at something in our community that works really well, and you wonder, “Hey, how did that ever get going?” – chances are that Walter was somehow involved. He was the kind of guy who worked behind the scenes, who made things work. And when time came for credit, he didn’t want it. The spotlight was not something that interested him at all. What he wanted was our community to work well, our traditions to be honoured and maintained, and our youth to care and to know that they really really matter.

If you ever saw Walter talk about stuff he did, he would always tell you that he could never be the person he was without the support of his family. His wife, Louise, whom he loved deeply, his parents who are valued Elders in the community, his four wonderful children and his grandchild for whom he lived and to whom he passed our knowledge. He was an awesome husband and father, an even more awesome grandfather, a brother to many, and a friend to even more. We are going to miss Walter for a long time. We will feel his absence – especially at Goose Break.

There’s a lot in our communities that we have because of people like Walter – people who focus always on the good of the community, on the next generation – and who do things not just for themselves but for others. If you think of your community now, you probably know someone still alive today who reminds you of our brother Walter. Learn from them. Value them. Appreciate how much they have made happen for us. Because when we lose someone like Walter, a person who has mastered our traditional way of life, we lose a piece of us, and of our identity.

Family, friends, Elders, community members, visitors, Walter was a mentor and a father figure. He left a legacy to keep family together. His legacy of hope lives in his children and wife and all the people he came across, a legacy to practice our way of life, a legacy that will last for generations to come. He was a friend who loved people and he exemplified what Jesus did to love. Walter had compassion for those who were struggling, to show them that there is hope. Even though times were tough, he made you feel and know that you had a purpose. We will greatly miss his physical presence, but we will continue to live life as he showed us to live.