Arthur Leonard Privett (1914 – 2009)
Arthur Privett grew up in Willowdale, Ontario. He worked on his family's market garden and greenhouse and did a variety of jobs including a short time at a canoe factory. He began his studies in the ministry with the Anglican Church Army. He married Muriel Sutton in 1946, the same year he completed a theological degree at Toronto’s Wycliffe College.1) Privett was ordained at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario in 1946 and became a priest in 1957.2)
Rev. Privett and his family moved to Whitehorse in 1957 and he became the rector of Christ Church Cathedral. He was named a canon in 1962 and Archdeacon of Klondike in 1965. He was a founder of the Braeburn Lake Christian Camp.3)
Archdeacon Privett resigned in June 1970 and then returned to clerical duty after only six months. He worked with the government in Whitehorse and with youth. For the rest of the decade, he briefly looked after northern British Columbia parishes in the Cassiar region. He then looked after the parishes north of Whitehorse along the Alaska Highway to the border while being stationed in Whitehorse.4)
Venerable Privett retired in 1979 and became the cathedral’s honorary assistant until the age of 92 in 2007. He worked in the diocese for fifty years, the longest serving priest at the Cathedral.5) He was predeceased by wife Muriel and is greatly missed by family George (Patti), Fred (Daphne), John (Alida), and Ruth (Don).6)