William “Bill” Reid (1930 - 2016)
Bill Reid was born in Wallace, Nova Scotia, the youngest of twelve children. He left home at age eighteen and travelled across the country visiting brothers and sisters. He met Rusty in Vancouver and they travelled to Whitehorse to visit another sister. They were married in the Old Log Church in 1951.1)
Reid was a fire fighter with years of exemplary service and a medal awarded in 1951. He was a pianist and bandleader for the Northerairs, a group he and Rusty, a talented fiddle player, launched in 1951. They played from 1951 to 2001 and could meet any request including Dixieland Jazz, Down East fiddle, polka, and Big Band. Bill was involved in the start of the Yukon Sports Federation, was president of the Whitehorse Ski Club, president of the Whitehorse Flying Club and national director of the Civil Aircraft Search and Rescue Association.2) He earned his pilot's license at the age of forty-seven. He helped put the DC3 weathervane on its pedestal.3)
In 1984, Bill and Rusty Reid were inducted into the Yukon Sports Hall of Fame for their thirty years of involvement and organizing skiing and softball. They became active members of the Whitehorse Ski Club in 1958 and remained active for twenty-nine years. Bill was on the executive for fourteen years and worked at the many jobs needed to keep the hill and the club active. He was the Yukon Ski Division President for ten years, director of the Canada Ski Association for five years, and helped to organize the 1981 World Cup. He was also active in baseball and was manager of the Woman’s Softball League teams for twenty years.4)
Bill and Rusty Reid were awarded the Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, and the Commissioner's award for Community Service in 2004. Their son Dave remembers that Bill helped everyone he met by financing their first home or their first musical instrument - helping them to find work or introducing them to people.5) Bill Reid's son and grandson are both pilots. Son David earned his license before his dad. David's son, Cameron, decided to become a pilot as Bill was retiring.6)