Victoria (Kinaschuk) Graham

Victoria Kinaschuk was born on May 14, 1925, at their family homestead (Sec. 12, Tp. 33, Rge. 30, W. 10) at Aran, Saskatchewan. Victoria was the daughter of Mary and John Justin Kinaschuk. She had six sisters and one brother.

Earl Graham was born on November 9, 1921, in Yorkton, Saskatchewan (deceased Feb. 15, 1979). Earl was the son of Carrie and Thomas Arnott Graham. He had seven brothers and two sisters.

Victoria and Earl Edward Graham were married on September 7, 1950, at Knox United Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Shortly after they were married, they moved to Hudson Bay and then on to Brooks Brook, Yukon, where Earl was employed as a lineman for CN Communications. They became close friends to Les and Pansy Allen at Johnson’s Crossing. They had three children all born in Whitehorse, Yukon.

On June 15, 1960, Victoria and Earl and their family moved to Mayo, Yukon. Earl continued to work for CN Communications as a lineman and Victoria became the switchboard operator in their home for CN until the new repeater station for CN was built in Mayo. Her daughter remembers her mother sitting at the switchboard transferring calls. The switchboard was like a big piano that fitted beside the stairs in their home.

Both Earl and Victoria were active members in the Royal Canadian Legion. Quite a few bake sales included baked goods from Victoria. She contributed baking for quite a few organizations.

In 1965, Victoria started to work as a retail clerk for Danny & Eve Jurovich at Danny’s Department Store in Mayo. Working full time did not stop the family from participating in various sport organizations.

Both Victoria and Earl became involved with the Elsa Judo Club and, with assistance of a good friend, they helped organize and run the Mayo Judo Club. Victoria even won a few medals and trophies of which she was quite proud. All of the kids also were involved with the Judo Club, and quite often hosted out-of-town competitors.

In 1968, Victoria became the General Manager of the Taylor & Drury’s General Store. The whole family soon was involved with the store and in 1973 Victoria and Earl and family bought the Taylor & Drury General Store and it became Graham’s General Store. In 1974, a fire destroyed parts of the general store and it was closed temporarily.

In 1974, while waiting on renovations, Victoria bought Ruth’s Dress Shop and it became Mayo Variety Store. For a while, the Mayo Variety Store was situated at the Chateau Mayo Hotel but was then moved down the street to its last location,

Victoria liked to give back to the community and while in the Variety Store she made quite a few donation s to various organizations, such as the Mayo Fire Department and the Winter Carnival. Also, any time that the school had a function Victoria would ensure that a donation was made. When a child was born in Mayo Victoria always had a baby gift for it.

As their children were growing up, Victoria and Earl would volunteer to help with kid events and often they would host out-of-town billets for the school sports events and both of them would be cheering the kids on.

In 1978, Earl retired from Northwestel and the family thought that Victoria would also think about retirement, but then tragically Earl passed away in February, 1979. After that the Mayo Variety Store and Victoria’s children and grandchildren became her life. During the summers you could find Victoria at the swimming pool watching her grandchildren swim. Quite often, Victoria would donate baking or prizes from the Mayo Variety Store for the swimming events.

Victoria was an active member of the WIGS and made quite a few contributions to their bake sales.

In 2001, Victoria decided that it was time to retire and closed Mayo Variety Store.

Victoria had been a resident of Mayo for 43 years but decided to move to Dawson City so that she could be closer to family. In October, 2003, Victoria moved into the Dawson seniors’ complex that was just down the street from her son Barry and his wife Rosemary, and the granddaughters: Ashley, Amanda and Kimberly.

In 2005, Victoria’s health was failing and she moved to Copper Ridge in Whitehorse. She passed away peacefully on July 3, 2006, in Whitehorse.