Babe Southwick, nee Dickson (1925 – 1965)
Babe Dickson was born in the Kluane Lake area to Tom and Louise Dickson. Her siblings included Ole, Dick, Belle (Desrosiers), Sue (Van Bibber), Grace (Chambers), Ruth (Donnolly), and Kluane (Hash).1)
Babe and Park Southwick and they had four children. Babe was an experienced dog musher and competed successfully in many sled dog races. She served as vice-president of the Yukon Dog Mushers Association.2)
In 1965, Babe drew number eight as a starting position in the 1965 Whitehorse Sourdough Rendezvous dog race. The race was over three days and Babe, with her well-trained team, made good time, finishing the first day in the top five. She cared for her dogs, walked with her sister Belle to her hotel room, and two hours later she was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead of a heart attack. Babe’s brother-in-law, Alex Ban Bibber, took her team around the course for the next two days and Wilfred Charlie won the race. To honour her, the Rendezvous committee retired her bib number. .3)
The editor of the Edmonton Journal, Andrew Snaddon, and his wife Jocelyn were inspired by her great spirit and high reputation. They convinced the Journal to donate the Babe Southwick Memorial Trophy, despite the newspaper’s policy of not giving trophies. It is awarded to the team with the fastest lap of three heats.4) Babe’s racing number, 8, was withdrawn from being used in future races.5)
The Yukon Dog Mushers Association was revived in 2016 to maintain the Ibex Valley tracks and to organize their biggest event, the annual Babe Southwick Memorial sprint race.6)