Terence Charles Bacon

Terry Bacon's father, Fred Bacon, was a cook at a mining camp near Mayo. Terry’s mother, Elsie, brought the family to join Fred in 1939. They moved to Dawson in 1941 but Elsie worried about the quality of education as Dawson’s population declined. The family moved to Vancouver, but Fred returned a year later as chief steward on the sternwheeler Whitehorse. Terry was a cabin boy on the Whitehorse at the age of twelve. During his first year he remembers returning from supplying military stations in Alaska when the paddle wheels froze up. Even 12-year-olds had to chip off the ice. He peeled spuds and washed dishes. He was also the pantry man and night waiter on the SS Casca and SS Tutshi. He also remembered carrying Klondike Kate's bags. Terry Bacon courted Katy Lee in Whitehorse in 1950. They had met once before eleven years earlier. They decided to marry, and Terry chose a career in the RCAF. Halfway through officer training in Ontario in 1953 he returned for a visit, and they married, although that was against the rules. Her father owned the Yukon Jewellery and Novelty Shop, generally known as the Kee Bird Shop, and now the Whitehorse General Store. They were married in the Log Cabin Church. His first posting was to Ottawa as a radio navigator. His squadron helped to map the Arctic. He left the air force with the intent of joining the foreign service, and he earned his law degree at the University of British Columbia. Terry Bacon became a Canadian ambassador and represented Canada as ambassador or head of mission in eight different countries.¹⁾ He was concurrently High Commissioner to Zambia and Malawi (1979 – 1981) and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Mozambique (1979 – 1981). He was also High Commissioner to Zimbabwe (1980) and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Czechoslovakia (1984 – 1987), Yugoslavia (1987 – 1990), Bulgaria (1987 – 1990), and Albania (1987 – 1990). He was Canada’s first ambassador to Albania.²⁾