Rose Marie Toole (1928 – 2020)
Rose Toole was born in Daysland, Alberta. Her family moved to Edmonton where Rose completed business school and worked as a secretary.1) In 1948, her brother Louis was stationed with the RCAF at Snag. He returned to visit his family and brought along his buddy Gordon.2)
Rose and Gordon Toole were married in 1949. They moved to Watson Lake where Gordon was a Meteorological Technician at the airport.3) Gordon and Rose lived in airport housing until 1961 when they staked land and built a log home on Watson Lake. Their children were born and raised in the Yukon and they shared their parent’s life at the fishing lodge, farm and the trapline.4)
Gordon’s trapline was a hundred miles north of Watson Lake, and Rose promised to spend two years there once their six children were old enough. Two years turned into twelve as she fell in love with the wilderness. Rose kept a diary during the first four years, and later turned it into a book, A Promise Fulfilled, published in 2004. Rose and Gordon were partners in their many adventures including big game outfitting, fly-in-fishing camp, and managing a hay farm.5)
When Rose was in her 50s, she and Gordon started downhill skiing and this activity took them to many ski resorts in British Columbia, Alberta, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Germany. They raise four sons and two daughters in their log home on the shore of Watson Lake.6)
Gordon and Rose Toole were recorded for My Yukon Life on Podcast Radio.7)