Ellen Bruce, the first northern aboriginal woman to be ordained by the Anglican Church, died Saturday at her home in Old Crow. She was 98 years old.

In 1985, Bruce was named deacon of St. Luke's Anglican Church in Old Crow. A year later, she received an honourary Doctor of Divinity from St. Stephen's College for her service to the community and to her church.

"She had a very quiet spirit about her that I think demanded attention,” Bishop of the Yukon Larry Robertson told the Star today. "When she spoke, it was never loud, or never agressive, but when she spoke, people listened.”

And people listened in English and Gwitchin as Bruce conducted services in both languages across Canada's North.

In 1987, the Anglican Church bestowed its second ordination on Bruce, promoting her to priest.

Robertson, who knew Bruce for 15 years, has fond memories of the Gwitchin elder – in particular, one of her visits to Inuvik, N.W.T. a little more than a decade ago.

"One of the big occasions for me was in 1999, when we had the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the translation of the Gwitchin bible,” Robertson recalled

"Ellen came over and gave a tremendous service. She's a very special person and one of the recognized spiritual leaders among the Gwitchin.”

Robertson, who learned Inuktitut to preach to Inuit across the Arctic archipelago, said Bruce helped him struggle through the Anglican blessing in Gwitchin, a language he was less than proficient in.

"Ellen listened to me and she could at least say that I was on the right track,” said Robertson with a chuckle. "One of the ladies had read it on a tape recorder, so there I was repeating it over and over again and not quite sure I was making any sense.”

Among Canada's First Nations, the Gwitchin have a rich and unique liturgical tradition which began in the 1860s, when Rev. Robert McDonald, a Church of England missionary, worked to develop the Tukudh alphabet readable by various Gwitchin speakers across Alaska, Yukon and Northwest Territories.

By the end of the 19th century, McDonald had translated the entire Bible and the Anglican Book of Common Prayer – an endeavour Bruce celebrated each time she gave a sermon in her Gwitchin language.

"It's fair to say that when she was holding her sermons in the Anglican church in Old Crow, you never felt any more closer to the Creator,” said Darius Elias, the Liberal MLA for Vuntut Gwitchin and a proud member of Bruce's congregation.

"And she was so kind, and she had such an angelic smile, I tell you – it would just light up a room with her loving nature.”

Each spring and fall, Bruce would conduct a service on top of King Edward bluff overlooking Old Crow Flats, said Elias, to pray for a bountiful and secure season.

"She was involved in that for years, and that was important to her to pray for all the families – that peole living out on the land would we OK and would return home safely,” Elias said. "Amazingly enough, the caribou showed up (on the flats) a day after she passed on.”

In 1990, Bruce was awarded the Order of Canada for her achievements – most notably the promotion of Vuntut Gwitchin culture for more than 50 years.

Bruce's funeral will take place at 3 p.m. Thursday at St. Luke's Anglican Church in Old Crow.