Alice Agnes (Nancy) (Hughes) Firth

Nancy (Hughes) Firth was born in Fernie, Columbia, the fourth oldest child of fourteen siblings. Her mother, Eliza Hughes, and father, Patrick Joseph Hughes, immigrated to Canada from Chaplehall, Scotland, in 1905.

Nancy met the love of her life in 1932 in Fernie. Howard was a bank teller with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and she was working in a department store at the time. They met at a bonfire corn roast event, and the rest is history!

A quiet, fairly shy and cautious individual, Nancy was very taken by Howard’s outgoing and athletic ways. She often said that our father loved her huge family as much as her. There were lots of brothers and sisters working, playing sports, laughing and having good times, which was so different from his only-child upbringing. Two major obstacles kept them from marrying right away. Howard needed to be baptized into the Catholic faith, which was not well received by his father, T.A. Firth, who was Grand Mason of Yukon/British Columbia district at the time, or his Christian Scientist mother, Delia. The senior Firths made separate visits to Fernie to “inspect Nancy” and Howard’s love for her.

The second obstacle preventing them from marrying was Howard’s bank employer; Howard would be fired from the bank if he married Nancy because he did not make enough money at the time to support both of them. So for five years they courted. Finally, Howard received a telegraph from his father that stated, “Marry Nancy, come back to Dawson City, and help run T.A. Firth Insurance.” Apparently, the agency had just acquired the dredges of Yukon Consolidated Gold Corporation business, which meant there would be enough financial ability to cover both couples.

Howard and Nancy married immediately in Fernie on August 12, 1937. They then headed north, which would be Nancy’s first time away from Fernie as well as from her parents and all of her thirteen siblings. The couple took the train to Whitehorse and finally, after two weeks, they were on the S.S. Casca going down river but “up” to Dawson City. She was introduced to Madame Tremblay on that first trip, in all of her Paris attire. Nancy loved it!

As the Casca turned the river bend, Nancy’s first impression of Dawson City was the fall colours. “Rather early,” she thought. When she and Howard departed from the sternwheeler she was shocked to see that all of the town’s people had come out to greet them at the docks. “Howie” Firth and his bride had come home. A great to-do was made of Howard’s arrival and a reception was held to welcome them home. The senior Firths presented them with their first home on Princess Street, in door plumbing and all! She often reflected on that welcome; she knew right away that her life was about to change.

Nancy joined the CWL (Catholic Women’s League) in both Dawson City and later in Whitehorse. She spent many

hours ironing the church’s linens, playing the church organ, fund-raising for the League and doing numerous charitable works. But she was a mother first and foremost, At the age of 27 her first girl arrived in September 1938, and her last baby in January 1951 when she was 40. Two years later, after the sudden death of her best friend, Nancy and Howard adopted her friend’s child, rounding out her children with three girls and three boys.

In 1954, the Firth family moved to Whitehorse, living first on Main Street and then on Sixth and Strickland Streets. Finally, in 1964, Nancy and Howard built their dream home on Tutshi Street in Riverdale. As Howard was Mayor of Dawson and Whitehorse for many years, Nancy graciously entertained various dignitaries in these homes, from Royalty to Ambassadors of countries to the Prime Minister of Canada.

Nancy was a founding member of the Yukon’s YWCA and did fundraising for years in order to build a shelter for young women. She also volunteered in the Whitehorse Thrift Store.

In Nancy’s 64th year. her beloved Howard passed away. She lived on in their Riverdale home and eventually wintered in Vancouver for the next twenty years. Nancy fell and broke her hip in June of 1995 at the age of 84 and soon passed away that August. She is buried with Howard in the Whitehorse Cemetery. Howard and Nancy, from the six children they raised, have ten grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.