John Ord Staley (1928 – 2024)
	
John Staley was born in Vegreville, Alberta and grew up on a homestead near Cold Lake where he attended school and worked part time for the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). He applied for a full-time job with the HBC and was posted to Fort Chipewyan and then Telegraph Creek in British Columbia. He met Father Mouchet there and they became friends. Staley then moved to manage the post at Fort Reliance, and he remained there until it closed. He then worked on the Yukon Telegraph Line, maintaining the line between Carmacks and Dawson. After meeting his future wife Birdie, a nurse at the Whitehorse hospital, he moved to Whitehorse and worked at the Airforce grocery store on the site of the current Airport Chalet.((“John Ord Staley.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 15 July 2024.))

John and Birdie were married in 1953 and they bought a house in Whiskey Flats. John purchased the Sunbeam Bakery and operated it for the next twenty years. He was a dedicated volunteer at the Jim Light arena for summer roller skating and winter ice skating. He was a founding member of the Jaycees service club that started the Rendezvous Keystone Cops and sponsored the Queen contest. Staley started Portabode Sales Ltd in Whitehorse and he and a friend constructed the LoBird Trailer Court named after their wives, Lois and Birdie. In his later years, John built over 200 dog houses in his back yard on Lowe Street.((“John Ord Staley.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 15 July 2024.))