Monday marked Valentine’s Day and just over a month from now, Alice and David Siksik of Gjoa Haven will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
The couple were married on March 18, 1972 at a small church wedding in Gjoa Haven. Alice was five or six months pregnant with their first child.
“The minister told (David) that it’s best that we get married before the baby’s born,” Alice recalled.
It was the first of two children they conceived two years apart. They later adopted four others.
“He’s a good father. He’d go hunt and he’d teach my son,” she said, adding that David has always been a good provider for their family.
Leah Nanordluk, one of their daughters, described her father as “hard working.”
“He loves to be busy working on his hunting gear. He enjoys fishing, and provides food for his wife, kids and grandkids.”
She said her mother enjoys sewing frequently.
“She sews for her husband, children and grandkids,” said Nanordluk, who reinforced how much her parents’ time at their cabin means to them.
Before she ever met David, Alice and her family lived in Perry River, on the mainland in the Kitikmeot region, until she was 12 years old. In 1967, they moved to Gjoa Haven.
David’s parents played a very influential role in the two of them coming together as a couple, Alice explained.
“When I was in my mom’s stomach — I was not born — his step-parents wanted me for a daughter-in-law, that’s what I heard,” she said.
She said they weathered some challenging times during their early years of couplehood.
“When we were young, we’d argue and get mad at each other but we still stayed together,” she said, laughing.
But many years of contentment followed, especially when they’d get the opportunity to go camping and fishing at their cabin, a couple of hours outside of the community.
Getting around isn’t as easy these days, but there was still a trip to the cabin last summer, Alice noted.
“We’re getting old,” she said. “I learned a lot … I’m still learning.”
With such a major marriage milestone only a short time away, Alice admits that she’s been contemplating a celebration.
“I was thinking about it, if we could have people in my house,” she said.