Yukon who is who

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Robert “Barney” Robarge (1923 – 2012)
	
Barney Roberge was born in Calgary and grew up in Vancouver with his father. He moved to Banff at age seven when his mother re-married. He joined the Royal Canadian Navy at a young age and served on a mine sweeper during the Second World War. He took part in the Battle of the North Atlantic and served during the Korean War. He wrote and edited the Signals Manual in the early 1950s and invented the Manoeuvring Board. Robert mustered out in 1964 and the family moved to Vancouver and then came north.((Mark Prins, "Beloved bartender earned his place in Yukon folklore." //Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 31 August 2012.))
	
Roberge arrived in 1966 to manage a mine outside of Ross River. It was sixty below the whole time he was there. He left for Whitehorse where he managed a pool hall on the top floor of what is now Murdoch’s on Main Street. A three-month job turned into a decision to buy an interest in the property.((Roxanne Stasyszyn, “Raise a glass to Barney.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 31 August 2012.)) The business prospered, he bought out his partner and in the late 1970s he sold the business and moved to Crag Lake where he met Joe Loutchen.((Mark Prins, "Beloved bartender earned his place in Yukon folklore." //Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 31 August 2012.))

In 1980, he worked for Esso Resources in the Beaufort where his son Brian was a human resources manager looking for qualified seamen. A short-term assignment led to a position as the fixer in many difficult situation. He used his cable-splicing skills, ran the work boats, and set anchors for the drill rigs. He returned to Whitehorse and, acting in //The Shooting of Dan McGrew// at the Capitol Hotel, met owner Eva Stalin. Mel Stalin asked him, and he took over management of the ‘98 Hotel. Loutchen and Friends played as the house band for over thirty years and Roberge looked after the less fortunate customers and gave advances to trappers.((Mark Prins, "Beloved bartender earned his place in Yukon folklore." //Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 31 August 2012.)) He was like family to many of the 98’s clients; a big factor in many people’s lives.((Roxanne Stasyszyn, “Raise a glass to Barney.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 31 August 2012.))

Barney Roberge was a widower twice and was survived by Buchan, his third wife of more than twenty years, five children and nine grandchildren.((Roxanne Stasyszyn, “Raise a glass to Barney.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 31 August 2012.))