Don McLennan (1919 – 2009)

Don McLennan grew up in Hartland, New Brunswick. He lived in New York and went back to New Brunswick before he joined the army and was sent overseas in the Second World War. Don served in England and Normandy. He returned to the Yukon in 1960 after spending some time there a few years before. Don came to work with Canadian Mining Service and spent many years underground.¹⁾

Don and Dorothy were best known for the years they operated the Caribou Hotel in Carcross. They had worked in hotels in Whitehorse and Carcross and when the opportunity came to buy the Caribou, Dorothy grabbed it and went on to operate it for the next thirty years. Don used the skills he earned as a competitive boxer in New York for his job at the Caribou. Polly the parrot came with the hotel. When Polly died in 1972, letters of condolence came in from all over the world. The pair had other birds, including Polly II who died in 1980. Dorothy and Don sold the hotel in 1981 and moved to Whitehorse. The couple celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary in 2007 and moved to Kamloops after close to fifty years in the Yukon.²⁾