Lionel Stokes (1939 – 2014)
Lionel Stokes was born in High Prairie, Alberta. In high school he competed in the 1959 Alberta high school championships and developed a passion for the sport.1) Stokes moved to the Yukon in 1959. At that time Yukon curlers had to qualify at the British Columbia Interior Playdowns to enter the Canadian Curling Championship Playdowns. Stokes competed ten times as lead skip from 1960 to 1974 and became known as a good sport and dedicated curling organizer.2)
In 1965, Stokes was living in Kamloops, British Columbia when he bought a new Ford Mustang in Vancouver. He drove the car to the Yukon in 1967. Stokes still had the car in 2006 when he exhibited it at a local car show after a two year restoration of the metallic blue, vinyl-roofed beauty.3)
In 1975, Yukon and NWT were allowed to enter the Canadian Championships. Lionel curled as lead in 1975 and as second in 1977 where he was voted All-Star Second at the Canadian Brier. In 1973 and 1974, Lionel’s team toured Europe and gained Yukon and Canadian recognition during a goodwill curling marathon. In 1981, his team won at the Peace Country Curling Classic.4) Stokes spent many years serving on curling committees and organizing events and he initiated the Bert Boyd Memorial Trophy. Lionel Stokes was inducted to the Sport Yukon Hall of Fame in 1989 for his accomplishments in the sport of curling.5)
Lionel Stokes was the sole owner of the Edgewater Hotel in 1982, a place where he started as a bartender in 1969.6) Lionel and his son Brent operated the hotel together for about twenty years and they sold the business in 2009. The new owners were a group that included Wendy Taylor (president), Tina Woodland, and Hugh Kitchen. The group also purchased Whitehorse Motors earlier in the month.7)