'A mother to the Yukon': Remembering Babe Richards

There are a lot of stories about the late Evelyn May or, "Babe" Richards, who died April15,but onehas been circulated more than most.

It's the one about the young Babeborrowing a bulldozerfrom the Alaska Highway crew, so she could build her own road to a lakeside spot she fancied.She did it over two weekends.

"Just because a girl has never borrowed a D8 Cat before to build a road, doesn't mean you can't do it!" said ErinMcMullan, a friend and admirer who's writing Richards' biography.

The bulldozer story resonates with many because it captures the Babe Richards they remember fearless, adventurous, hard-working, and tough as nails.

"You'll never meet a tougher woman in your entire existence. She just never allowed anything to pull her down," said her daughter NonaLoveless, the ninth of Richards' ten children.

"She got grit somewhere along the line, and I don't know,having tenchildren I'm sure would have brought some of that on!"

Mother Yukon

Richards died a month away from her92ndbirthday. On Monday, friends and family willgatherin Whitehorse to commemorate and celebrate a woman onefriend called"mother Yukon" (which is not a reference to Babe's ten children).

"Always a great lady, that's for sure," said friend JimRobb, who first met Richards in 1955 as a young man, newly arrived in Yukon."She always kind of symbolized a 'mother to the Yukon', Iwould say.

"I never met anybody quite like her."

Former Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie,who once lived with the Richardsfamily, told biographerMcMullan of Babe's important role in his life, offering guidanceand no-nonsense discipline.

She was, the former Premier said, a "shining example of a strong Yukon woman."

Saw Yukon 'grow up'

Richards' background and life storyis like a boiled-down, modern history of the territory.

Her great-grandfather hada hardware store at the foot of theChilkootTrail inDyea, Alaska, selling goods to the prospectors heading up the "Trail of '98"to the Klondike.

Her father, T.C. Richards, wasa legendary Whitehorse entrepreneur and gambler, who famously bought the Whitehorse Inn with the $20,000 he won in a hand of poker. The family home he built in the1940sis now a designated Yukon historic site.

Babe(anickname bestowed by her older brother, at birth)was born in Whitehorse in 1924, when it was a rugged 300-person outpost. By the time of her death, also in Whitehorse, it was a busy capital city of27,000.

"She got to see the Yukon grow up," said her daughterNona Loveless, who now lives in B.C.

Richards lived all but five years ofherlife in Yukonin Whitehorse, WatsonLake and Upper Liard (she briefly lived in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, B.C.).

She was a dedicated volunteer for countless local organizations and "worked her butt off" to raise money for them, Lovelesssaid. She also logged manyhours driving seniors around.

"She did that her whole entire life until she gave up driving. AndI'lI almost guarantee you that her last trip in a vehicle was to drive a senior somewhere."

'Life is about changing'

McMullanremembers Richards as a sort of mentor, who befriended her when McMullan moved to Yukon in 2008.

"I think Yukon was really her heart.That's where she had her happy childhood experiences, that's where her children were born," saidMcMullan.

Babe was a "natural born storyteller" who encouraged McMullan a "Cheechako"to forge her own path.

"Life is about changing, you have to learnhow to adapt," McMullan was told.

That rings true forNona Loveless, who also remembers her mom as someone who encouraged resilience and positivity and straight talkabove almost everythingelse.

"She always told us, 'I'm not raising youto love me, I'm raising you to make your way in the world.' And she let each and every one of us make ourown way in the world, but she stood behind us, rock solid.

"And if we were screwing it up, she'd let us know!"

A "Celebration of Life" for Babe Richards will be held at the Kwanlin Dn Cultural Centre in Whitehorse, Monday at 2 p.m.