Darwin Merle O’Brien (1969 – 2024)
Darwin O’Brien was born in Whitehorse to parents Vivian O’Brien and Wes Scace. Dawson was of Northern Tutchone ancestry, was of the Wolf clan, and was a member of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation. Darwin grew up in Carmacks and then lived in Whitehorse where his step-father Edwin Scurvey helped to raise him and his siblings as his own. Darwin lost his main caregiver, his sister Francis, to a car accident in 1979 and he never quite recovered from his grief.1)
After graduating from F.H. Collins high school he earned a Red Seal Gas Fitter diploma from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT). He worked for companies in Whitehorse and then started Timberland Plumbing and Gas Fitting, a subsidiary of Timberland Electric owned by his brother Leslie. After the company disbanded, Darwin worked for the Yukon government recruiting apprentices.2)
Darwin served for two terms on the Kwanlin Dün Council under his brother, Chief Rick O’Brien. Darwin was very intelligent with an analytical mind and had a lot to say, with different perspectives, on various issues.3)
In 1988, Darwin married Marilyn Shorty in Ross River and their son Tyler was born in 1998. Darwin and Marilyn separated but they stayed close for Tyler’s sake. Darwin suffered from an addiction he could not overcome although he tried very hard to get well. He was surrounded by a loving family who remember him as a gentle man with a good sense of humour.4)