Yellowknife (Oct 03/03) - A man known to have been one of Inuvik's best ambassadors died last week after complications from a stroke.

Walter "The Roofer" Willcomm was a long-time resident of Inuvik and a fixture at the Mackenzie Hotel.

Born May 9, 1931, in Gdansk, Poland, Walter left war-torn Europe at 14.

He arrived in Canada and went to work as a carpenter, a mushroom farmer and a number of other occupations.

Walter moved to Inuvik in 1969 and worked as a roofer and later started WW Roofing.

Prior to moving North, Walter met Hildegard, who would become his wife, at the German consulate in Edmonton. Hildegard came to Inuvik in 1975 and the two were soon married.

The couple worked at various businesses, including an A&W franchise where the Roost now stands. They bought the Mackenzie Hotel and renovated it in 1985.

Vince Brown first met Walter in 1986, when he came to Inuvik to work as a bartender, but went on to perform every duty in the hotel for Walter and Hildegard. Brown is now the president of the Mackenzie Delta Hotel Group.

Greeted with a smile

"More than anyone else, Walter was the ambassador for Inuvik," Brown said. "Anyone who came into town -- regardless of who they were -- he would be there at the front door of the hotel to greet them."

Brown said Walter would regale tourists with stories about Inuvik, the hotel and his heritage. He spoke Polish, German, Russian and English.

Brown recalls a large balloon Walter had fixed to the roof of the hotel, to welcome people who'd just come off the Dempster Highway.

"One of the things it said on that balloon was, 'We serve them all,'" Brown said. "That's very much the way he was."

"He was almost obsessive about greeting and talking to every single person who'd come into the hotel."

Hildegard handled the business end of the operation and Walter was the hospitality.

A good vantage point

Ken McDonald first met Walter in the late 1960s at the Sly Fox lounge in the Eskimo Inn and the two became fast friends.

"He'd always joke that he liked being a roofer because he could look down on people," McDonald said.

Ken and his wife Karen moved south to Edmonton and then to Tuk with Dome Petroleum but in their travels back and forth, Walter was always at the hotel to greet them with a joke and a smile.

"He was the one constant in Inuvik," Karen said. "He was a unique character in a town that has more than it's fair share of characters, but Walter really stood out."

"He always had a joke to tell," Ken said and smiled. "He'd pour everybody at the bar a round of schnapps and tell his jokes -- the schnapps didn't always taste so good, but the jokes were pretty good."

Marty Verbonac was working for Matco when he met Walter in the Zoo one night and soon found himself working as a bouncer at the club.

"He was always happy and friendly towards people -- he was the consummate P.R. man," Verbonac said.

Now the vice- president of operations for the Mackenzie Delta Hotel Group, Verbonac said he learned the hospitality business from the best.

The day Walter and Hildegard moved away, Verbonac said a void was left behind. "For myself, it was a happy day, but I was so sad to see him go," he said. "He helped Vince (Brown) and I out so much. He gave us so much instruction and the where-with-all to take over the business."

A bronze sculpture of a Fiddler on the Roof still sits behind the bar at the Brass Rail in memory of "Walter the Roofer".

Walter Wilcomm is survived by his wife Hildegard and their two children Arno and Heidi.