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Penny Sippel, nee Collins (b. 1940)
Penny Sippel was born in Vancouver when her mother travelled from Stewart Island to her parents' home in the south to give birth to her second child.1) Penny's father, Phillip Collins, was a longshoreman for the British Yukon Navigation Co., a subsidiary of White Pass & Yukon Route. Her mother, Martha Collins, nee Burian ran the Stewart Island roadhouse offering rooms and meals. Both of her parents ran traplines in the winter.2) The Burians had a strong connection to Stewart Island and the Stewart River after Alfred Burian first located in the area and was joined by brothers Renny, Karl, Rudy and Walter during the depth of the Depression. Martha joined her brothers at Stewart Island in 1936 and she and brother Rudy bought the Stewart Island Roadhouse in 1937.3)
Penny's family moved to Dawson when Penny was school age. They moved to Whitehorse in 1952 and lived in the Whiskey Flats area that is Rotary Park today. Phillip worked with the Army, building houses in Camp Takhini. Penny was crowned May Queen in the 1956 precursor to the Sourdough Rendezvous spring festival, May Days. Penny met Don Sippel in 1954 and they were married in 1959. They raised three children: Donna, Cindy, and Paul. Don and Penny Sippel were named Mr. and Mrs. Yukon in 2023.4)