Yukon who is who

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
Sue Ward (1913 – 2011)
	
Sue Ward taught herself to play several musical instruments and entered talent shows that led to a radio career as "Sunshine Sue." Her stint in the Canadian Forces is recorded in her book "One Gal's Army."((April Moi, //Klondike Sun// (Dawson), 13 July 2011.)) She rose from an unranked volunteer to a first lieutenant and commented that women just never went back to the kitchen full time after the war.((Dan Davidson, “Leaving Dawson after a quarter century.” //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 5 August 1994.)) 

Sue married Bill Ward and the couple lived in Quesnel, British Columbia to raise a family.((April Moi, //Klondike Sun// (Dawson), 13 July 2011.)) The marriage lasted twenty years, and, after being a political wife, Sue had to forge a new independent identity. She spent some time working for Ma Murray’s newspaper in Lillooet and put on a theatrical performance for the United Church. When she was fifty-five, she wrote to Fran Dowie, the producer of the Barkerville historical shows, and asked if he needed an old-time singer. ((Dan Davidson, “Leaving Dawson after a quarter century.” //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 5 August 1994.))

Fran Dowie hired Ward to perform in Dawson in the Gaslight Follies and she did that from 1968 through 1970. She also helped the fledgling Klondike Visitors Association by offering slide shows on the sternwheeler //Keno// during the evening "Klondike Nights." In 1972, Sue was hired to manage the Palace Grand Theatre and she did that until 1975.((Kathy Gates, "My Friend Sourdough Sue Ward." //The Klondike Sun// (Dawson), 10 August 2011.))

Sue purchased her 1900 summer home on Princess Street in the late 1960s. It was one of a trio of homes made from recycled riverboat wood by Mr. McClusky. One summer, she got Dick Stevenson to flatten oil can drums to refurbish her roof.((Kathy Gates, "My Friend Sourdough Sue Ward." //The Klondike Sun// (Dawson), 10 August 2011.))
In the summer of 1976, Sue and American draft dodger Joe Nickel established "Sourdough Signs" and they painted signs in a trailer behind Tim Cole's trailer on Harper Street. They did the impressive Diamond Tooth Gertie's sign among others. Sue painted most of a huge Good Samaritan building diorama on Church Street. The 4x8 foot panels were painted in the old Territorial Court Room in the current museum building. She painted the portraits of Arizona Charlie Meadows and Klondike Kate that used to hang in the Palace Grand Theatre. She was also the founder and MC of the Dawson City Breakup Festival which she started in 1973. She was enlisted to give tours of Dawson and the goldfields to the tourists who arrived in town on bus tours. She sold a small cassette tape called "Around town and up the creeks" to visitors.((Kathy Gates, "My Friend Sourdough Sue Ward." //The Klondike Sun// (Dawson), 10 August 2011.)) 
	
In the winter of 1988-89, a group of friends and concerned citizens worried about the lack of local news met to start the //Klondike Sun.// Ward had worked at a Fort Nelson newspaper edited by Margaret Lally "Ma" Murray. She and Richard Blais designed a large banner that hung outside the Sun's waterfront building. She financed the hiring of the paper's first part time employee, Cher Mitchell (now Wilson), during the first summer.((Dan Davidson, "Sourdough Sue and the Klondike Sun."  //The Klondike Sun// (Dawson), 10 August 2011.))

At first they worked out of the Golden Age Club on 5th Ave. Sue helped deliver papers around town with John Gould, and she contributed articles, filler sketches, and cartoons when needed. After her experiences at the paper, she purchased her first computer and started writing her memoirs, //One Gal's Army// (1996). She completed the first draft while living in Dawson in 1993 when she was 80.((Dan Davidson, "Sourdough Sue and the Klondike Sun."  //The Klondike Sun// (Dawson), 10 August 2011.))
	
Sue Ward left Dawson in the mid-1990s [1993] with guitar and dog at her side. She returned to Quesnel and spent her last years at Burnaby's George Derby Centre, a home for war vets.((April Moi, //Klondike Sun// (Dawson), 13 July 2011.))