ELAINE CLARKE

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ELAINE CLARKE A kind and gentle soul has been called home. On Thursday, January 12, 2006, Elaine, surrounded by family and friends, was released into the arms of the Creator. With sorrow we watched her go, but with joy we know she has found peace. Elaine was a loving wife to Patrick Clarke Sr. A devoted and generous Mother to Patrick, Warren and Clint. She was a proud Kookum to Raena, Jules, Isaac and Joshua. A Daughter, Sister, Auntie and Friend and so much more. Words cannot express how much she loved and was loved. She will be missed until we meet her again. Elaine Clarke was born at Hecla, MB. She was the fourth of seven children. At age seventeen, she moved to Manigotagan. In 1972 she moved to Winnipeg. In September 2004 she and her husband, Pat Clarke, celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Elaine was employed for several years at The Tee Pee restaurant, Winnipeg's first Aboriginal restaurant. She worked on clean-up, meal preparation, and then bannock baking. In December 1990 she was hired at Neechi Foods Community Store, in the city's North-End. The store is owned and operated by the worker-members of Neechi Foods Co-Op Ltd. She immediately began baking bannock and set the high standard that has made bannock the store's most popular and signature item. Her duties steadily expanded to include all areas of operations and she soon became vice-president of the worker cooperative. In 1996 she was chosen by her coworkers to take over as store manager, at a time of extremely difficult social and economic conditions in the surrounding neighbourhood. She held the business together despite widespread boarded-up housing, drug trafficking, prostitution and extensive youth gang activity on adjoining streets. Although sales were dragged down in the late '90s, they rebounded to record highs in recent years. Regrettably, due to health challenges, Elaine had to leave her job in late January, 2004. She is highly regarded by coworkers, and customers for her hard work, perseverance, integrity, knowledge, and skill. The impact of Elaine's work at Neechi has gone far beyond the business itself because during her employment the co-op became a local and national model of inner-city, community and cooperative economic development. The co-op's Aboriginal membership is particularly significant as the store is located amidst the highest urban concentration of Aboriginal people in Canada. The Co-Op was a founding member of both the Community Development Business Association of Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Chapter of the Canadian Worker Cooperative Association. As manager at Neechi Foods, Elaine also served on the board of (Christmas) LITE (Local Initiatives Toward Employment). Over the years, she has devoted many hours to helping out in the canteens at Chalmers and Kelvin Community centres, at the Katari Mission bingos at the Freight House Community Centre, at the Lord Selkirk Park Lunch program, and, earlier, at the Manigotagan Community Hall. To honour Elaine's time with us prayers will be held at 7:00 p.m., Monday, January 16 and funeral services will be held on Tuesday, January 17 at 2:30 p.m., both at the Glen Eden Funeral Home, 4477 Main St., Winnipeg, MB. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Canadian Cancer Society, 193 Sherbrook St., Winnipeg, MB, R3C 2B7.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jan 16, 2006