Gail Hendley (1943 – 2024)
Gail Mawer was born in Welland, Ontario and married John Hendley in 1965. They moved to Ross River in 1966 where Gail became the first schoolteacher and John the first school principal. They moved to Faro in 1969 and opened a new gas station. They bought the Little Salmon Lodge in 1974 and moved to Dawson in 1985 where they eventually built the Bonanza Gold Hotel and RV Park.1)
Gail was interested in local politics and was the returning officer in the 1988 municipal election.2) She attended Dawson Council meetings for three years and decided to run [unsuccessfully] for mayor in 1991 against Peter Jenkins who had been in the position for eleven years. One of Gail’s campaign promises was to scale back the importance of the mayor’s chair and operate the council in an open, honest, and non-threatening way as a gathering of equals. In a debate, Jenkins answered questions in the form of a vision for the future. Gail was not privy to the inner side of city affairs and based her answers on the concept that not every vision should come from the mayor’s office.3)
In 1991, Gail was Dawson’s representative on the Board of the Yukon Chamber of Commerce. In that year’s seventh annual meeting of the organization, Gail Hendley was awarded Business Person of the Year for setting up the Northern Network Bed and breakfast brochure. The brochure listed B&Bs in Alaska, northern BC and Yukon and was advertised in German magazines and in the ferry schedules. The network had over 30 members.4) Gail was diagnosed with advanced Alzheimer’s disease in 2019 and she spent her final years at Copper Ridge Place in Whitehorse.5)