Yukon who is who

Margaret Hougen, nee Van Dyke (b. 1929)

Margaret Hougen was born in Edmonton, Alberta to Martha and Gerard Van Dyke. She spoke Dutch with her family before she started elementary school. For five years in the 1940s, Margaret travelled by military aircraft and road to places in Alberta, Yukon, and NWT to set up temporary blood clinics for the Red Cross. In 1953, her sister Roslyn asked her to move to Whitehorse to help her with her first child. Roslyn was married to a member of the RCAF and their mess was a community social centre so Margaret found Whitehorse to be a fun town. She met her future husband Rolf Hougen at the Queen’s Coronation Ball in 1953. They married in 1955 and at the time Rolf was running a department store with his parents. He expanded his business into radio, television, and car dealerships while Margaret raised their six children. In 1976, the family moved to Grenoble, France for a year so the children could attend school to learn French and a new culture.¹⁾