A Williams Lake First Nations couple rode and jogged more than 20 kilometres Tuesday, Sept. 28, in memory of the late Marge Wycotte and for children.
“We are carrying the sweet heart that Marge had with us as we do this,” James Mattice said. “We are also running for the children, not only children from the past but in the future too.”
Wearing orange T-shirts with ‘Every Child Matters’ on the front and ‘Run for Sister Marge,’ on the back, James and his wife Jackie said they usually run to honour people who have passed on.
Tuesday’s route started at the east end of Kinglet Drive off South Lakeside and ended at Sugar Cane, by going into town and back out along Highway 97.
“Jackie has a feather on her left wrist and I have an orange bandanna that will go in Marge’s casket,” James said.
Raised at Sugar Cane, James never knew his birth parents.
“Jackie heard a story from an elder that my parents came and said, ‘can you look after him, we’ll be back.’ Well it’s been 57 years and they never came back yet,” he said, adding everyone in the community, including the Wycottes, adopted him.
For three years he attended St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School and said “it wasn’t very nice.”
Jackie, who is also from Sugar Cane, did not attend residential school, although her mom and other members of her family did.
The Mattices have been married for 11 years, have four sons, one daughter and nine grandchildren.
Jackie works as an Aboriginal patient navigator at Cariboo Memorial Hospital and James works two weeks on up north.
Marge was born on July 6, 1959. She was familiar to people in Williams Lake as she often sat outside Save-On-Foods.
She had been living at Deni House until she died.
“We hope this will become something we do every year, run around the lake for everybody,” James said. “It is for every kid in the world.”
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