The NWT’s legislature will on Saturday host a celebration of life for staff member Haylee Carlson, who passed away on February 9.
Haylee, who was 37, worked in the office of the clerk. Caitlin Cleveland, the MLA for Kam Lake, said she had been “fiercely independent and fiercely loved.”
She had spent four years battling cancer.
The McKenna Funeral Home, on its website, said Haylee’s celebration of life would begin in the legislature’s Great Hall at 3pm on Saturday.
“Our hearts are heavy and broken with profound sadness as we announce the passing of Haylee Damara Carlson (nee) Brothers,” read an obituary posted to the same website.
“Haylee was a compassionate, courageous and a selfless warrior. Haylee always thought of others before herself even at the last stages of her life. She always found the good in others and continuously consoled those around her.”
Family members thanked nurses at Stanton Territorial Hospital, “who tirelessly went above and beyond their duties to ensure all of our Haylee’s needs.”
Donations can be sent to the NWT Breast Health/Breast Cancer Action Group in Haylee’s name.
In the legislature itself, Speaker Frederick Blake Jr said Haylee had been “an employee of the Legislative Assembly for more than 16 years but, more than that, she has been a friend to us. She became family to us.”
Cleveland, addressing colleagues, said: “As children, we shared dance classes. I was drawn to Haylee’s enviable, vibrant confidence; as a photographer, to her smile that started in her eyes; and, as a public servant here in the Legislative Assembly, I was impressed by her professionalism, unwavering ability to always stay two steps ahead, and as the glue that holds this branch of government together.”
Haylee is survived by Mike, her husband of the past eight years, and their daughter, Shanli, alongside her parents, Dave and Trina Brothers, and her sisters, Kristin and Shelby, and family.
