Merasty is a very common surname in Pelican Narrows.
But the level of success achieved by a particular Merasty family is anything but customary.
The family, raised by the late Napoleon and Jane Merasty, includes educators, a lawyer, a nurse and an economic development officer among its ranks.
“We are blessed to be where we are today,” says Mel Merasty, one of 11 children in the family. “But I believe a lot of it had to do with the devotion of our parents, as they were real supporters of their sons and daughters.”
Both originally from Pelican Narrows, Napoleon and Jane Merasty were highly respected members of their community and region.
They married in Sandy Bay, a reserve outside Pelican Narrows, and moved back to the latter reserve in 1967 to build a home and grow their family.
In 1972 the entrepreneurial couple started a taxi company, with Napoleon making the 120-km trek between Pelican Narrows and Flin Flon almost daily.
Napoleon’s duties included picking up and delivering mail for Pelican Narrows and Sandy Bay. He also transported patients to medical appointments.
As his Flin Flon Bombers ballcap attested, Napoleon was an avid hockey fan who attended as many Bomber games as he could.
Jane, too, was a hockey fan with a penchant for loudly cheering on her sons at minor hockey games in Flin Flon. (In 1979, The Reminder profiled brothers Mel and Ted for their standout skills).
She had her hands full as a homemaker. In addition to her own 11 children, her home was always open to kids in the community who needed a welcoming place to stay.
For fun, Jane would play bingo at the Flin Flon Friendship Centre, a popular gathering spot for aboriginal people across the region.
As ambitious as Napoleon was, his health was a question mark.
The children heard the story of how their father had damaged his lungs as a teen. While helping to build a church in Sandy Bay, he had fallen and struck a two-by-four with his torso.
Not long after, he contracted tuberculosis and subsequently had to have surgery that would plague him for the rest of his life.
The Merasty children were trained to provide physiotherapy for their father. They would pound his side with their hands, helping to loosen phlegm stuck inside his thin body.
By the early 1980s, Napoleon’s ill health had begun to exact a greater toll. Then came Feb. 13, 1984.
Daughter Angela Merasty and her younger sister Vivian were at the Pelican Narrows arcade that day when their adopted brother, Willis, approached them.
“He says, in Cree, ‘Hurry up, you’re supposed to come home, your dad is sick,’” recalls Angela.
Napoleon had been ill so many times before that Angela thought this was just one more instance. Tragically, however, he died that night. He was just 50.
“It was devastating,” says Angela, who was 12 at the time.
As overwhelming as Napoleon’s passing was for both the family and Pelican Narrows, years later son Ted Merasty sees a silver lining.
“Perhaps that could have been part of the reason we are as close as we are today,” he says. “We had to come together.”
For matriarch Jane, there was little time to mourn given that nine of her 11 children were still under the age of 18.
Jane had little formal training to prepare her for the workforce, but her dependability was never questioned. The Pelican Narrows RCMP detachment hired her as a cell matron.
Money was flowing into the household, but it was hardly enough to resolve all of the logistical issues that stem from raising such a large family with no father.
“Growing up in a large family was fun when you were younger but had its challenges as you grew older,” recalls Mel Merasty. “The older we got, the bigger we got and thus meant less room [for] everybody to live in. The bigger we got meant we ate more as well, so it got more expensive to take care of bigger and older children, especially when my mom became a single parent.”
Despite the challenges, the loss of Napoleon would not hold the Merasty family back.
The older kids did their part around the home, and all of the children started working in their teens, contributing financially to the household.
The sense of self-reliance instilled in the children became increasingly apparent as the years went on. One by one, each finished high school – no small feat for a family so large in the 1980s and ’90s, particularly on a reserve with a low graduation rate.
Each of the children would go on to earn either a post-secondary degree or some post-secondary education. In 2000, Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, to which Pelican Narrows belongs, formally honoured the Merastys for having all 11 siblings graduate from Grade 12.
The recognition was part of a ceremony to open a new arena in Pelican Narrows. Napoleon Merasty Memorial Arena stands as a permanent reminder of the family patriarch’s legacy.
While 2000 was a year of celebration, it was also a time of loss. Having suffered a debilitating stroke eight years earlier, Jane passed away at the relatively young age of 56.
Napoleon and Jane are, to borrow a common turn of phrase, gone but not forgotten. Their emphasis on personal responsibility lives on in the way their children have raised their own kids.
“A lot of them have graduated and some of my nieces and nephews have completed university already,” says Ted Merasty. “The ones that are still coming up see their older cousins doing something with their lives and they’ve seen all their aunts and uncles doing something. So I think the onus is on them to look up and say, ‘Hey, this is the way life is supposed to be.’”
The 11 Merasty children now live in four different communities, with sisters Angela and Geraldine residing in the original family home in Pelican Narrows.
All of the siblings remain close, regularly gathering for birthdays, anniversaries, barbecues, summer holidays and Christmas.
“We were very fortunate to be blessed with two parents who also had good parents who instilled in them what they instilled in us, and what we’re now passing onto our kids, and that’s family,” says Ted Merasty. “The family that stays together, thrives together.”
“Family closeness was always a part of our upbringing,” adds daughter Stella, whose last name is now Ballantyne. “With so many children in the house, we had to take care of one another. Even with all the different [personalities], we set those aside to come together as a family when we needed to.”
Today the Merasty family is known and well-regarded throughout northeastern Saskatchewan. Many view them as positive role models in a socially troubled community.
There are 18 years between the Merasty siblings. The oldest sibling, Stella, 51, is a school vice-principal in Pelican Narrows; the youngest, Cara-Faye, 33, is a legal aid lawyer in La Ronge.
Angela, 44, is the victim services coordinator with the Pelican Narrows RCMP and a former aboriginal advisor to the premier of Saskatchewan. She and brother Ted have spent time on the PBCN band council.
The list of successes hardly ends there, but, true to the lessons taught by their parents all those years ago, the Merastys remain modest.
“My parents were humble and were very grateful for all we had,” says Stella Ballantyne. “I remember they always shared what they had. It was a ride here, clothing for others and even food. They were caring and loving parents. Always made sure we had clothing and food to eat. They always kept very busy with all those children they had to raise. So we learnt at an early age [about] hard work and commitment.
“Our parents taught us the values of respect, caring, sharing and, most of all, love. To love and respect one another and others. To respect each individual as they are. Show respect and you will receive respect. Our parents laid out the foundations for who we are today.”
A success story
The 11 siblings of the Merasty family of Pelican Narrows have enjoyed success in various fields across Saskatchewan:
Stella, 51: school vice-principal, Pelican Narrows
Carol, 50: First Nations University of Canada academic advisor, Prince Albert
Alvina, 48: licensed practical nurse, Prince Albert
Mel, 47: Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation economic development coordinator, Prince Albert
Ted, 46: Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation land manager, Prince Albert
Angela, 44: RCMP victim services coordinator, Pelican Narrows
Robin, 43: Prince Albert Grand Council justice coordinator, Pelican Narrows
Stanley, 42: high school teacher, Shoal Lake, Saskatchewan
Vivian, 40: dental therapist,
Prince Albert
Geraldine, 38: kitchen chef / steward, Pelican Narrows
Cara-Faye, 33: lawyer, La Ronge
