2023/24 Board of Directors

President

David Nugent came up to the Yukon in 1973 for a summer job and stayed on, working in the mines, as a log/timber frame builder, carpenter, carpentry instructor at Yukon College, and after that as the Department Head of Trades and Tech at the college. He lives at Marsh Lake, has four grown children, and lives with his wife Paulette Dufour who he met here in 1975. He has a strong interest in Trades and History and is now fully retired. He has spent a goodly amount of time coaching hockey and soccer. He prefers the rural lifestyle to that of the city, something that originally drew him to the Yukon and probably will keep him here forever.

Vice President

Hugh Kitchen has lived in the Yukon for over 40 years. He has spent 35 years in aviation: 3 of that with Air North, then 32 with Alkan Air ­(25 as a partner in the business). Currently he works part time with Alkan Air as a pilot and was recently the president for the Chamber of Mines. Hugh enjoys sharing history through his volunteerism at the YTM.

Treasurer

Brian Stevens is a retired engineer and teacher who first arrived in the Yukon in 2010 and started volunteering at YTM in April of that year. Since 2011, he has led the maintenance and upgrading of YTM’s White Pass and Yukon Route model train layout (when he’s not working on his own home model railroad!) His love for model trains started back in Kitimat, British Columbia, and he was part of the Skeena Valley Railroad Club in Terrace, British Columbia. He also brings his background as a mechanical engineer and a teacher to the museum.

Directors

Richard Roberts has been with the YTM since before the beginning. Richard is devoted to the automobile history of the Yukon and is always happy to do the homework and make the case for interesting new additions to the museum’s collection.

Dale Brown is a farm boy from Alberta. He was active in the Alberta Aviation community and served on several boards until family and a job offer would pull him to the Yukon. His passion is “old school” technology. His tractor was made in 1939, his plane in 1940, and he has furniture that his great-grandfather homesteaded with. He enjoys spending time with anyone who has an interesting story to tell.

Deb Ryan is the Manager of Strategic Planning and Alliances at Air North, Yukon’s Airline.

Kirsten Reid is a Conservation Biologist at the Yukon Conservation Society and is completing her PhD in Geography, studying the responses of Yukon’s ecosystems to climate change. Kirsten holds a Bachelors degree in Biology from the University of Ottawa and Masters degree in Integrative Biology from Wilfrid Laurier University. Since 2013 she has been actively conducting research throughout the Yukon and Northwest Territories. As an avid science communicator, Kirsten is passionate about sharing the stories, resources, and opportunities of the YTM. She wants to contribute to making the YTM a welcoming and engaging space for all.

Stacey Robinson-Brown lives in Carcross on her poultry farm, with her husband and three beautiful children.  She has recently earned a Masters’ degree in Social Work and she enjoys both challenging herself at work and homeschooling her children.  Recently coming onto to YTM Board, Stacey has a childhood of tinkering with small engines, playing around with motor sports, and has grown to love all things transportation.

Natalie Van Sterthem is a Digital Marketing and Engagement Coordinator with the Yukon Conservation Society. She’s a history buff and is passionate about finding engaging and innovative ways to share stories.

Board Member (In Memoriam)

David Neufeld (1953-2020) was an environmental historian in the Yukon. He studied the intersection of knowledge and practice in both Western settler approaches to Canada’s North and Yukon First Nations’ ways of life in their sub-arctic boreal homelands. His reflexive research approach was grounded in 30 years as a community-based cultural researcher using archives and community oral histories. His complementary travel with both “hunters” and “miners” made him sensitive to the character of the contact between Indigenous and Newcomer through the 20th century and their changing expectations of each other.

Ken Jones (1939-2020) was an explorer from a young age, and had a keen interest in all that the world could offer. His lifelong passion for aircraft started in the Canadian prairies as a teen, and before he was able to join the RCAF he spent many hours watching, learning, and listening to aircraft marshalls, aerospace engineers, and pilots. When he moved to the north he brought his love of people, places, and aircraft, and he captured thousands of photos from the 1960s onwards of the expansive Arctic skies, welcoming communities, and the transformative winters of the north. His was a welcome smile and thoughtful voice for many years at the Yukon Transportation Museum, and he is dearly missed.

Murray Biggin (1931-2022) spent his entire life flying and driving from somewhere to somewhere else. He found out on Christmas of 1954 he was being shipped off by the Canadian Military to England for ‘Radar Trades.’ ­ This was somewhat of a disappointment, as he had requested to go north. After returning from overseas he drove for ‘the Big Dog’ and found his way to the Yukon in 1973. Beginning then, he drove professionally for WP&YR, including at Cassiar Asbestos Clinton Creek and in and around the communities of Faro, Elsa, and Dawson City. In 1996 he joined Whitehorse Transit for six years, and then in 2002 he drove for Gray Line for three summers. In his later years, Murray was a welcome addition to the YTM team as our ‘Museum Interpreter Emeritus’. We miss hearing his tall tales of transportation, and we feel that he is a truly irreplaceable person in the history of this museum.

The Board of Directors can be contacted at board@goYTM.ca.

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