SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - After 30 years of service with the GNWT and years of community involvement, Dave Paul is getting ready to bid farewell to Yellowknife.

A corrections supervisor with the North Slave Correctional Facility, Paul will be retiring and relocating to Thunder Bay, Ont., taking with him fond memories of the North.

Dave Paul is leaving Yellowknife after 30 years of service to the GNWT and being a prominent member of the Yellowknife community. - Cara Loverock/NNSL photo

Originally from Newfoundland, Paul arrived in Yellowknife in 1978 when he was hired by the NWT government.

"I just kinda fell in love with the place," he said. "I didn't really know how long I'd be staying for. I was just a young guy, it was an adventure. But, I came up and met friends and that was it."

Over the years Yellowknife's business scene has had a number of contributions from Paul, including the East Coasters Newfie Pub located in the Explorer Hotel, which he owned in the mid-1990's for four years. Paul also had a home security business for about a year in the early 90's and ran a limo business as well from about 2005 to 2007. In the early 1980's he aided Brinks in their initial efforts to establish in Yellowknife.

"Brinks wanted to make inroads into Yellowknife so they got a hold of a few of us at the centre to work with them part-time before they actually went into it full-time here. So we did it for about two years. In the end I was actually in charge of it all," explained Paul.

His co-worker at the correctional centre, John Nahanni, said Paul will be missed. "He's played a large role in mentoring a lot of people (in corrections)," said Nahanni. "His dependability is phenomenal ... He's like a book of knowledge."

Paul and his wife Theresa, a nurse, have raised five children over the years. He said the move to Thunder Bay is to be closer to family that are already living there.

"We'll come back in the summer time. We've got (grown) children living here," said Paul. He said he has mixed emotions about leaving his job and leaving the city that has been home for so many years and stresses the fact he will be back to visit. When asked what he will miss most the list was long.

"The city itself, going out to the East Arm fishing, the camping life," he said. "I'll miss my co-workers, of course, and the long summer days."