‘PLAY IT LOUD, PLAY IT PROUD’
Well-known radio personality, activist ‘Aggie Baby’ died Wednesday of cancer
Well-known radio personality, activist dies of cancer.
She had a larger-than-life personality as a radio announcer and was a talented bead artisan, but it’s the work she did as an advocate on behalf of her missing sister that truly motivated Agnes Gould, her brother says.
Gould, better known by her on-air handle of “Aggie Baby,” died Wednesday of cancer.
She got her start in radio in Eskasoni and later was an onair personality at Membertou’s C-99. In a Cape Breton Post profile published in 2000, when asked about her personal motto, she replied, “Play it loud, play it proud.” Over the years, she said she had also worked as a social worker, a teacher, researcher, child protection worker and call centre employee.
Gould’s brother, Robert Pictou, said when Gould initially learned of her cancer diagnosis she kept it from her family, as they were preparing to hold a special letting go ceremony in Maine in April to mark the 25th anniversary of their sister’s disappearance.
Virginia (Red Bear) Pictou has been missing since April 24, 1993. Then 26 years old and living in Maine, Pictou was last seen at a medical centre in Bangor, Maine, where she was receiving treatment after being assaulted. Gould and her family worked hard to attempt to locate Pictou, including searching for her themselves, sending flyers out across Canada and the United States, hiring private detectives, and keeping her story in the public eye.
“She didn’t tell the family (of her cancer diagnosis) because she wanted the focus to be on the anniversary,” Robert Pictou said.
Pictou said Gould’s cancer had metastasized and she suffered an infection that hastened her death.
Gould also carried on her family’s tradition of beadwork. Pictou noted their mother was considered a master at the art.
“She did that as one of her ways of sharing the culture because as a lot of people know the first times you bump into a culture it’s through art … that’s how a lot of people first encountered her and they encountered
her personality which was kind of outgoing, like much of the family,” he said.
“What made her really interesting was she was able to bring back some of those styles and crafts that my mom did to the community, so there’s several people who have learned.”
Much like crafting communities such as quilting circles, when people come together to do beadwork they share stories, knowledge and the culture with each other, among both native and non-native peoples, Pictou said.
“Yes, the hands are busy but then that opens up the opportunity for dialogue and that’s where a lot of sharing of the traditional knowledge would pass back and forth in the community members,” he said.
As a radio host, Gould also shared with her listeners information
about Mi’kmaq culture and language and promoted Aboriginal artists.
“It was a bridge between communities,” Pictou said.
“You could say she was a larger-than-life personality. She got into radio in Eskasoni on a little rez radio station, got her training there and she then got a job here at the Membertou radio station.”
Gould combined two of her life’s passions when she designed a red dress beaded pendant to mark the national Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls inquiry. The family was able to testify when the inquiry came to in Membertou in November, providing them an official avenue to speak about Virginia Pictou’s disappearance, something they had long been denied, as she had been living in the United States when she went missing.
“The borders kept pointing at each other saying, ‘No, it’s your job,’ ‘No, it’s your job,’” Pictou said. “Meanwhile, as a family, we were getting no results at all.”
Gould made those pendants
for family members who took part in the inquiry and they caught the eye of others involved.
“It’s a great conversation beginner ,‘ what is that ?’ and then of course we can share about, ‘This was made by Aggie Baby in memory of her sister.’ It stimulates conversation,” Pictou said.
Prior to going into the hospital, Gould was working on an order of those pieces for the national inquiry. Pictou said they advised officials with the inquiry of Gould’s illness and said they could determine who would receive the final pieces she had made.
Virginia Pictou is still missing but the case has now been reopened and Robert Pictou credited Gould’s efforts for that development due to the attention that she drew. Gould continued to carry with her the original flyer that was made when their sister disappeared.
Gould had two children, Sonya and D.J., and three grandchildren.