SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Ken Frew was a "true renaissance man," according to his friends in Yellowknife, ready to recite poetry while out prospecting on the tundra or breaking his usual quiet composure to deliver a one line "zinger" at parties with friends.

The 59-year-old, whom friends referred to as 'Action Ken with accessories' drowned last Wednesday while trying to save a teenage boy who was struggling to swim in the Hoarfrost River on McLeod Bay of Great Slave Lake.

Frew was born in England and grew up in Ontario. He came to Yellowknife from La Ronge, Sask. in 1993 to help a friend house-sit and never left.

Jennifer Stranart said she's known Ken for the past decade; he and her husband had been best friends for the past 17 years.

She said he earned the name 'Action Ken' because he always seemed to have the right tool and know-how to fix just about anything, including Stranart's traditional snowshoes on one occasion.

"Ken was always the person you wanted to have with you in the bush. He could fix a pair of snow shoes on the fly, catch a trout on a fly, navigate explore work and keep you laughing the whole time," she said.

Frew started working for GGL resources (Gerle Gold), an exploration company, with Stranart's husband Chris shortly after he came to Yellowknife.

The president of the company - Ken's boss and Chris' father, Ray Hrkac - called Frew a "natural naturalist."

Hrkac said he couldn't recall exactly why Frew chose to work for the company in the North, but said "he was always on the frontiers and was looking for new experiences."

His friends herald him as an avid outdoorsman, and said he could often be found walking, biking, skiing, or sailing the Kestrel - the 17-foot Friendship sloop he built himself - on Great Slave Lake.

Though 19 years Stranart's senior, she said the only hope she would have catching Ken in a foot race would be by "hiring someone to trip him."

He was never married and had no children of his own. He rented a room from a couple in Old Town for the past nine years.

Though not well-known in Yellowknife, Stranart said he never failed to make a lasting impression on those he met.

A celebration of Frew's life will be held at a friend's house in Yellowknife this Sunday.

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