Kurt “Smokey” Guttman (1933 – 2023)

Smokey, Vin (now Lynn), and children Greg and Jill Guttman left Banff Alberta in 1965 and came to the Yukon. They moved from Carmacks to Haines Junction in 1973. Smokey was the Resource Management Officer transferred to take over the Haines Junction District when Harold Patterson retired. Vin was the Territorial Government Weigh Scales Operator from 1974 to 1990 and also did some substitute teaching and custodial work at the kindergarten. Smokey and Vin moved out to British Columbia in 1990 but Smokey often returned to work on his Museum of Nostalgia. The museum is located at 181 Backe Street in the Old Village Fire Hall. It was built in 1967 as a two-bay fire hall with an addition added to house the village grader. Smokey’s project began in 1989.1) He spent countless hours creating the private museum. The museum was a tribute to Guttman’s patience, perseverance, local folk interest, and innovation.2) Smokey sold the museum in 2022 due to failing health.3)

1)
Smokey, Vin, Greg and Jill Guttman, “Good Times” in From First We Met to Internet: Stories from Haines Junction's first Sixty-Five Years as a Settlement. Yukon College, 2007: 52-3.
2)
Jim Robb, “Art Johns nominates Smokey Guttman for the Colourful Five Percent.” Yukon News (Whitehorse), 1 June 2011.
3)
“Guttman, Kurt “Smokey” Obituaries in Casttanet, Kelowna’s Homepage. Wednesday 15, 2023.