Helen Hunter’s tipi will occupy its traditional spot at Banff Indian Days this summer at the centre of the encampment, but Hunter herself will no longer be there to erect it.
Hunter died in Calgary on June 1 at the age of 78 and, according to her cousin and Banff Indian Days organizer Roland Rollinmud, she was afforded the place of honour at the annual celebration on the strength of her tipi-making skills.
“She is one of the persons who showed her respect and enjoyed what we have done to bring back Banff Indian Days and she has really supported it. And for everything from day one in 2005 she was a regular,” Rollinmud said.
“(Her tipi) was the anchor of Banff Indian Days and the Calgary Stampede. I have known a person who knows how to support the community and we need more of that to keep our culture alive. We really are stewards of that,” he said. “And the educational part of what she offered, we’re going to lose that too.”
Hunter was one of Morley’s foremost tipi craftspeople and she learned her skills from her mother Gertrude, who in turn learned from her mother. She could make a tipi in 24 hours.
“It is unbelievable. She mastered it. The measurements of everything, she doesn’t use a measuring tape, but her hand lengths,” Rollinmud said.
Many people sought out Hunter for her tipis, including a commission from Exshaw Community School. Rollinmud said Hunter was just getting ready to start work on that tipi when she died. He added her granddaughters, who she taught, would complete the tipi.
“She really enjoyed life and she represented it in a way as a role model for the Morley community,” he said.
Hunter embraced life, her culture and, as much as possible, lived a traditional life.
“It was hard for her to be idle for too long. She was that kind of person. She was a master of whatever she did,” he said.
