Francis Vivian Hakonson, nee Casper (1924 – 2005)
Fran Hakonson was born just outside Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to parents Ann Gerwazik and Nicholas Casper.1) She grew up in Vancouver and moved to Whitehorse in the early 1940s. She met her future husband, Bill Hakonson, when Bill was driving truck for the United States Army. She moved to Dawson in 1946 and drove taxi for him. Fran was very active in the community and an early member of what became the Klondike Visitors Association.2) She performed on stage in the early shows. She and Bill ran Dawson City Wholesalers selling groceries in the 1960s and she worked at the front desk of their Eldorado Hotel in the 1970s. Fran wrote a monthly column for the Klondike Sun newspaper called “Bits and Bytes from the Net.” Fran and Bill had four children: Ferone, Lenore, Wendy and Greg.3)