Emily Grace (nee Scheller) Thompson, known as "Mickey" to many of her family members and friends, was born on June 9, 1933, the 12th child of 16 born to Fred and Emma Scheller. She was the first Scheller baby to be born in the new homestead in Okla, SK. Mickey received her education in Okla, and had many interests and talents. She learned to play the organ and piano by ear and spent countless hours playing. She enjoyed gardening, dancing and modelling. Emily recounted having been lucky enough at times to ride four miles to school in Okla with seven brothers and sisters on one old horse. Having so many other siblings, she grew up without having a relationship with some as they were serving during World War II in Germany and other overseas locations. Mickey came from a hard working German ethnic family and background, who understood the value of family, hard work and determination. Mickey started working at Joy Frocks ladies clothing store in Yorkton and later moved to Balcarres to work as a telephone operator for the Government Telephone Company. A short time later, she was found out that the opportunities for operators were better in Fort Qu'Appelle and she made the move to that community. It was in Fort Qu'Appelle that she started her romance with Clifford "Kip" Thompson, a charming, young, fit CN Railroader. They began their lives together in 1958. The young, ambitious couple moved to Wabowden, MB in 1959, as Clifford's work took them to northern Manitoba. During their two year tenure there, they would become the proud parents of two sons, Shane, born in 1959 and Dean, born in 1961. Their life journey would lead them further north to Ilford, MB, where Emily and Clifford bought an old broken down hotel, sight unseen, only to find out when they arrived to find the barn-like structure had no water, sewer or power. Clifford was so proud that Emily did not even bat an eye at the amount of work required, she just dug right in and went to work on the task at hand. The immediate tear down would begin Gold Trail Hotel Ltd. It was during this time that they welcomed two more additions to their family, a son, Todd born in 1963 and a son, Kirk born in 1964. Emily was so proud of her modern hotel in Ilford, and so much loved organizing her huge Christmas family gatherings. Clifford and Emily's interests led to building a fly-in fishing lodge in 1968, known as the Little Churchill Lodge. When operating a remote fishing lodge you need to haul in large amounts of supplies in the winter for use in the summer operation, therefore, heavy equipment was purchased, and this escalated to the formation of Ilford Northern Construction Company. The construction company opened up an intricate winter road system spanning in excess of 500 miles, which hauled millions of pounds of freight and over a million gallons of fuel. The use of cats, trucks, graders and sleighs brought these commodities to ten isolated communities seasonally for 25 years and employed 75 people. Emily's only real outings from Northern Manitoba were their family car trips to Okla, SK and Dauphin, MB. It was important to her that her children maintained close family ties. Emily was an excellent driver and received a 25 year commemorative gold key from the Manitoba government for accident free driving. Emily was involved in many important causes in the north. She was on the school committee for Frontier School Division #48 for many years. Her love of music allowed her to accompany the school and church choirs. She was the founding member that played an important role in the annual winter carnival in Ilford called "Chimahow" that drew people from as far south as The Pas. While Emily was busy raising her own four boys and assisting where she could with her two step-sons, she found time to be exponential in getting a new school built in Ilford with the direct assistance from the Premier of Manitoba. Emily and Clifford had decided in 1977, that she should move to Dauphin for her sons' continuing education, as grades 7-12 were not available to them in Ilford. This would also afford the children the opportunity to be closer to their grandparents. They purchased a home in Dauphin and developed a farm in Sifton, MB. Emily travelled back and forth between Ilford and Dauphin in order to manage both the hotel in Ilford and keep a Mother's watchful eye on her sons in Dauphin. Emily and Clifford were approached to move to Edmonton to manage the Evergreen Mobile Home Park, which at the time was the largest mobile home park in Western Canada. They ran this operation successfully for several years, while maintaining their companies in Manitoba. Emily's commute would now take her from Ilford to Edmonton, while Clifford maintained the home park. Emily, while in Ilford and Clifford in Edmonton, would take on the role of bidding on the Ilford to York Landing-Split Lake Government winter road contracts, with the advice of Clifford. At this time, Emily became the first woman road builder in the province. With a few select people from the Ilford community, she was able to successfully operate Ilford Northern Construction, all the while managing the Gold Trail Hotel with local employees who became good friends. Clifford returned from Edmonton and started yet another venture with Emily in 1988. They opened up a second fishing lodge called Silsby Lake Lodge and Outposts Ltd. Silsby is 100 miles from the nearest road and required further use of winter "ice road freighting". She maintained a residence/office in Thompson, MB, from which she was the bookkeeper, expediter, PR person and booking agent for Silsby. Her business experience, along with her wonderful personality was instrumental in the success of Silsby Lake Lodge. It was a seasonal operation that required Clifford to be away at camp for six months of the year, while Emily ran things her way in Thompson and Ilford. Silsby Lake Lodge is still in the top five premier destination fishing lodges in North America, due in large part to their hard work and dedication. Emily was a connoisseur of fine cooking and everyone loved her fresh cooked walleye. Emily and Clifford moved to Yorkton, SK in 2009. This allowed Emily to be closer to family, friends and medical care. They retired after the sale of Silsby in December of 2010. Emily's continuous devotion to her children endured as she enjoyed family gatherings, and spending time with her grandchildren. She continued to make new friends in Yorkton, while always keeping in touch with her old friends. Her computer skills allowed her to continue her online hobbies of Farmville and social media Facebook. Emily enjoyed her warm Yorkton summers, planting flowers in her front yard where she enjoyed sitting and visiting with family and neighbours. She also enjoyed time spent at her son's cabin at Lake of the Prairies. Emily was predeceased by her parents, Fred and Emma and her son, Kirk in 2003 and her siblings, Robert, Mabel, John, Norman, Ernest, Georgina, Margaret, Cecil, Herbert and Clifford.. She leaves to mourn her passing and cherish her memory, her husband, Clifford; her sons, Shane (Tracy), Dean and Todd (Katherine); her step-sons, Norman and Robert; her siblings, Melford of Okla, SK, Gladys of Edmonton, AB, William (Eileen) of Jaffrey, BC, Mildred of Hudson Bay, SK and Hazel of Regina, SK as well as numerous grandchildren, step-grandchildren, one great-granddaughter, many other relatives and good friends. A visitation for family and friends was held at the Chapel of Christie's Funeral Home, Yorkton, SK on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. The Memorial Service was held at the Chapel of Christie's Funeral Home on March 8, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. with Terry Tompkins officiating. The organist, Carla Laycock led the congregation in the singing of the hymns, "Abide With Me", "Amazing Grace", "Just As I Am" and "Beyond the Sunset". Emily's grandchildren prepared a powerpoint presentation in tribute to their grandma in photographs which was shared with everyone during the service. Emily was laid to rest with her son, Kirk, in the Yorkton Memorial Gardens, Garden of St. John. Emily's sons, Shane and Dean served as their mother's urn bearer and Todd served as his brother's urn bearer. Friends so wishing may forward their condolences to the family by visiting www.christiesfuneralhome.com Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Christie's Funeral Home & Crematorium, Yorkton, Saskatchewan.
