Paul Joseph Cyr (1923 – 2013)
Paul Cyr was born in Whitehorse to Antoine (Tony) and Marie Cyr. Paul attended the Lambert St. School and was a waiter on the SS Casca in the summer. Pan American offered him a job ferrying pilots between the town hotels and the airport when he was legal to drive. By age twenty, he had an A&E mechanic's license from Boeing in Seattle. He served in the Second World War and then drove bus, truck, and oil tanker for White Pass & Yukon Route (WP&YR) on the Alaska Highway. In 1959, Paul started work as a heavy-duty equipment operator for WP&YR in Skagway. He was known for his wit, work ethic, and daring deeds on the high bridges.1) He had strong nerves and drove the cat with a snow blade across a 200-foot high trestle bridge to clear the snow. In blinding blizzards, he had a co-worker walking a few feet ahead of the cat to guide him. He was a great cat operator.2)
Paul Cyr was named Transportation Pioneer of the year in 2009. Paul's ashes were taken to a hill he loved, located between mile fourteen to twenty on the White Pass Railroad. He is survived by wife Alice and two daughters: Karen Louise Cyr Goertz (born to Paul and Lois 1950) and Kristin Elizabeth Cyr (born to Paul and Alice 1962).3)