Yukon who is who

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William John “Bill” Weigand (1928 - 2021)
	
Bill Weigand was born and raised in Winnipeg to parents Edwin and Mary Weigand. At age eighteen, he left a job as an auto mechanic in Edmonton to be a fire fighter in Whitehorse at the Army Fire Hall.((“William John Weigand.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 2 July 2021.)) He held many jobs over the years including digging graves for his uncle’s funeral home and selling fire extinguishers along the Alaska Highway. In 1965, he became a partner at Murdoch’s Gem Shop and trained as a goldsmith and jeweler.((Chuck Tobin, “’He was all Yukon,’ son says of late mayor.” //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 2 July 2021.)) Bill’s first wife, Sophie, came north in 1948 and their son Darryl and daughter Brenda-Dawne were born in Whitehorse.((“William John Weigand.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 2 July 2021.))
	
Bill and Jerrine (Jeri) married in 1968 and the family included her children David Buckler, Terri, Nikki, and Donald. At one time the Weigands lived on the second floor of the historic Log Skyscrapers and had to access their home using a ladder as there were no stairs. In the 1970s, he and Jeri started the Poverty Bar tourism business in Dawson and Bill mined on Bonanza Creek. They sold their interest in Murdoch’s in the early 1980s and started Designers North in Whitehorse.((Chuck Tobin, “’He was all Yukon,’ son says of late mayor.” //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 2 July 2021.)) 

Bill served one term as the mayor of Whitehorse from 1991 to 1994 and was the first full-time mayor. He was heavily involved in the Sister Cities program with Japan and elsewhere. He was preceded as mayor by Don Branigan and followed by Kathy Watson. Following Bill’s term, the family travelled to China (Xining and Beiha) where they spent three years, from 1995 to 1998. China eventually awarded the Weigands the Golden Silk Ball Award, for Bill’s work as a volunteer foreign expert, and the Foreign Experts friendship Award, the highest honour awarded to foreign volunteers. Their experiences abroad were documented in Jeri’s book //Knowing Miss Chen.//((Chuck Tobin, “’He was all Yukon,’ son says of late mayor.” //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 2 July 2021.)) 
	
Over the years, Bill was president of the Whitehorse Kiwanis Club, the Downtown Business Association, the Yukon Federal Conservative Party, and chairman of the Yukon Utilities Board. In 1998, Bill was honoured with the Rotary Paul Harris Fellow Award and in 2005 he was the recipient of the Yukon Commissioner’s Award for Public Service.((“William John Weigand.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 2 July 2021.))
	
The Weigands moved to British Columbia when they returned from China and then moved back to the Yukon in 2016.((Chuck Tobin, “’He was all Yukon,’ son says of late mayor.” //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 2 July 2021.))