A fitting tribute

WILLOW — Before Scottish musher Wattie McDonald even unloaded his dogs at the 2010 Iditarod Sled Dog Race restart in Willow this past weekend, he first paid his respects to a lost friend.

Standing next to a plaque nailed to a tree with a Scottish banner tied under it, McDonald remembered his friend and fellow Scottish training partner, Susan Livingstone.

“It’s the way she would have wanted it and it’s a way to remember and honor her life,” said McDonald, an Iditarod rookie this year.

When Livingstone passed away suddenly at age 44, the small, close-knit group of Scottish dog mushers that trained together with the Scottish Siberian Husky Club were dealt a difficult blow.

“Her passing was very sudden and unexpected, so it was hard for all of us,” McDonald said.

As a true friend does in a time of mourning, McDonald was more than willing to help the family during a difficult time. So when Livingstone’s family asked him about honoring her life by spreading her ashes on the Iditarod Trail, he jumped at the chance. In fact, he was honored.

“We thought it would be the appropriate thing to do. She had never been to Alaska. She would have loved it here and the chance to go to the race,” said McDonald.

Carrying some of Livingstone’s personal belongings, McDonald spread some ashes out at the memorial plaque at Willow and plans to spread the rest on the trail when he feels the time is right to remember his lost friend.

“I am not sure when I will do it, possibly if I reach Nome as a final respect to her,” McDonald said.