Gertrude Anita Marie “Gert” Girouard (1935 – 2021)

Gertrude Garant was born on a farm in northern Alberta to Delorosa and Edith Garant. In her youth, she took part in track and field events, baseball and curling. Gertrude married Phillipe Alfred “Phil” “Ted” Girouard in 1951, and joined her husband in the Yukon in 1953. They had three children: Dorine, Rhea and Rolland. Phil worked for the Department of Public Works on the Alaska Highway bridge crew and Gertrude worked in the mess hall kitchen. They lived at Mile 245, Lower Post, Stoney Creek, Slims River, and Snag until it was time for the kids to go to school and then they moved full time to Whitehorse. Gert worked at the Tourist Services Restaurant, Clyde Wann’s café, and the Edgewater Hotel. She was at the hotel on the day it burned. She noticed smoke just after her shift started and ran through the hallways alerting everyone to get out. When the propane in the kitchen ignited, it blew her out the door. Gert worked as bar maid and bar tender at the 98 and the Regina for many years. She took over the management of the Bamboo Cocktail Lounge in 1969, the year her husband died, and was the first to bring frozen pizza and live entertainment to a bar in Whitehorse. She organized cribbage tournaments around town and entered the Freighters Chain Up events and took home trophies for several years. She loved dancing and gardening and was known as the carrot lady for her baby carrots. She built a forty-foot-long wall planter and a two-tier waterfall with a pond. In later years she took up cross stitching. She loved God and her family, and will be sorely missed.¹⁾