Fay McCready is a soft spoken, gentle woman that exudes kindness and incredible knowledge. She is an encyclopedia of Jasper’s outfitting history, and a living legend of the wild side of Jasper’s backcountry. 

She speaks fondly of the Tonquin Valley, and her late husband Tom McCready. She has nothing but good things to say about the many men and women who helped pull off the family’s journeys into the backcountry for hunting trips, adventure and other jobs. 

For a woman so eager to praise those around her, receiving it is something she shies away from. 

The couple were recently honoured by the Willmore Wilderness Foundation for their incredible contributions to the history of the Jasper National Park and the Willmore Wilderness Area. Fay attended the event in Edson – and so did many of the McCready’s former staff members from the guides, to wranglers and her children, Tess, Todd and Christine. 

“It was wonderful,” Fay says, as she gazes at a photo from the event afterwards. She seems nearly astonished that people travelled from far and wide just to attend a benefit for her and her husband. She estimates about 200 people were there from all over Alberta. 

As she looks at the photo, she worries about who’s not in it – their Métis guides such as Adam Joachim, leader of the Mountain Métis that worked in the backcountry along with them. Also missing was Bill McKinnon, John Chesser and Bob McGuire, former guides for the McCreadys.

“I’m sorry that there weren’t the Métis people working with us,” Fay said.

The fact that everyone did gather for the fundraiser, shouldn’t be a shock. Former guide for the McCreadys, Bob Barker, also a well-known former Jasperite, says the experience he gained from Tom helped him in his career as a Jasper National Park warden, and as Jasper’s first ever bylaw officer for the federal government. 

“He was willing to teach you,” said Bob of his former boss who taught him how to pack horses in 1961. “I really needed that when I became a warden.”

Bob recalls the McCready family as a hard working, lovely bunch of people to not only work for, but to spend time with. 

“The McCreadys were a happy family. Really good to work for,” he said. “It was a pleasure working for [them].”

As for Fay, Bob remembers her working hard to keep the employees happy and well fed on and off the trail. She worked as the camp cook occasionally.

“Fay spent a lot of time picking up groceries and making us lunches,” he says. “We never went hungry.”

Bob went on to work as a warden for 35 years, doing a lot of backcountry work. He was hired as the first bylaw officer in Jasper by the federal government. He held that position for 10 years. In that time he made many contributions to Jasper, including the animal control centre, which he designed and had approved by the Government of Canada. 

Before he passed away, Tom was interviewed, and the resulting oral history was presented in video form at the Edson event, played over photos of the family.

Tom was born in 1923 in Jasper. His father Don McCready was a train operator in Tete Jaune Cache, before he was transferred to be the operator at the old Fitzhugh Station in 1919 when Jasper was still called Fitzhugh. The McCreadys were one of the first families to take up residence following the eviction of the six Métis families in 1909 and 1910.

Don met his future wife, Myrtle Hargreaves, the sister of the well-known Hargreaves outfitting family. When Myrtle’s uncle George died, he left the McCreadys with seven horses that formed the basis of Tom’s outfitting business. 

Tom travelled the Willmore and the Jasper National Park between 1945 and 1972. He remembered clearing trails everywhere he went, and having to travel through the park for up to three days before reaching the hunting grounds of the Willmore. He said his favourite hunting camps were the Hearts Gravel Pass, Falls Creek and the Blue Grouse camp. Tom spoke about Falls Creek, saying he never had to worry about the horses in that area, and there was good hunting close by the base camp. 

Outfitting trips were limited to two hunters, because Tom found that any more caused a rivalry between them. The hunting was for trophy, but they always kept and used the meat from the sheep, goats, mule deer bucks, bear and moose that they hunted. 

Tom did many jobs in the backcountry. His outfitting business brought tourists into remote hunting areas on trips ranging from 21 days to a month. He also packed supplies into the Tonquin Valley for the Alpine Club of Canada. Tom said he began outfitting charging only $25 a day, and raised that up to $85 by the end. 

Fay was the camp cook occasionally in the summer, but remained home with their three children during the school months while Tom worked in the backcountry. Fay took care of the business end of things, and was adamant that her children grow up raised by their own parents. 

“I didn’t want someone else raising my children,” she said. 

In the summer, the family would take trips into the Tonquin Valley to fish. She remembers being taken into the pristine valley with Tom when he was only 13 years old. She describes him as “very, very competent” at such a young age.

Fay says their son Todd was a talented wrangler by the age of 13, and remembers him easily trailing a group of horses before he was even 15. 

“It was a wonderful life, raising a family in the outfitting business,” she says. 

Tom and Fay decided to get out of the business in the early 1970s, but Todd went on to continue working with horses at the Ya-Ha Tinda Ranch near Sundre, Alta., where Parks Canada’s horses are bred and grazed in the winter months.

When the business shut down, Fay and Tom remained friends with their former employees, especially those who stayed close to Jasper. However, at the Edson event, it was the first time Fay had seen some of the men. 

When first approached by the Willmore Wilderness Foundation to be honoured, Fay was hesitant to accept. She asked if there might be a family more deserving of such admiration. 

But Bazil Leonard, president of the foundation, said the family was definitely worthy. 

“There are some people that excel in their profession, and Tom was one of them,” he said. 

The foundation wanted to make sure that the history and culture of the mountains is never lost. 

Fay says she was “very honoured that this was done for myself and my family, and Tom.” She was happy that her grandchildren, or “Grandadults” as she calls them, were able to attend as well. 

“It’s hard to be in the limelight,” she said. 

Fay credits Bazil and his wife Sue Feddema-Leonard for working to keep the Willmore the wonderful recreational area it is today. 

“Bazil and Sue are working hard to keep Willmore Wilderness a wilderness,” Fay said. 

The video featuring Tom’s oral history and more on the McCready family that was produced and directed by Sue and presented at the Edson event can be viewed online at www.peopleandpeaks.com