Paying it forward...not a new thing

In the 1950’s my husband, Don was spending his summer working on a survey crew in the Yukon for a company that was studying the sources of the Yukon River for a possible power project.

In 1955 Don asked me to bring our three girls up to Whitehorse as he would be employed all winter this time. He rented a house for us and we flew up to join him early in September. We shipped our possessions by boat to Skagway, Alaska and found out the Longshoremen there were on strike so our things were unavailable for six weeks.

Two of our girls were going to school so I washed their dresses each night and ironed them before breakfast. With the cold weather arriving, they needed leg coverings. The people of Whitehorse were wonderful. They brought children’s clothes, sheets and everything we needed until our own things arrived. The warm winter coats were especially welcome. It was wonderful to be so well outfitted by people we didn’t know.

Ten months later, in June 1956, our fourth little girl arrived. At that time Don was on the crew that were surveying the bottom of the Yukon River, south of town, who would look after my three girls (ages 4, 7 & 9) while I was in hospital? A wonderful neighbor took them in and took good care of them. When I said that I could never repay her, she replied “Don’t try to repay me, but pass on kindness to someone else in need.”