by Ian Elliot
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan 09/98) - If you lived in Yellowknife for any length of time, you probably knew Dennis Crane.

Crane, who died at the age of 64 on Dec. 31, after a long illness, is being remembered by those who knew him as a man who put more into the community than he took out.

An avid boater, national-level badminton player and an accomplished darts player, Crane worked for many years for the territorial Department of Education and helped design several of Yellowknife's newer schools. He got practice at that task by renovating the family's roomy waterfront home off School Draw Avenue, which was a small prospector's shack to start with.

"He was a wonderful man, a good man, and he really lived life to the fullest," said his wife Theresa.

"He was one of those people who accomplished what he set out to do."

She said her husband was not one to rest on his laurels and he did not make a show of the awards he had won over his life, like his many badminton trophies.

"He would always return the trophies so they could be used again," she recalled.

Crane was born in Britain in 1933 and served four years as a Russian interpreter with the Royal Air Force prior to moving to the North in 1964. He taught industrial arts in Inuvik before going off to live in Australia for a time. He returned to work with the territorial government's education department in Fort Smith as a consultant, moving to Yellowknife in 1969 when the department did.

He sat as a trustee on both the public and Catholic school boards, only declining his seat on the Catholic board at the time of last year's election due to poor health.

He also taught Outward Bound courses, was involved with the organization of Sport North and several Arctic Winter Games and served as chairman of the Committee on Metric Change in Canadian Sport.

Friends remember a man genuinely interested in people.

"If you were doing an extension to your house, Dennis was the kind of guy who would come over, give you a 100 different ideas and then help you draw the plans," said Don Kindt, a friend who worked with him at the Yellowknife Catholic school board.

Crane assisted in the renovations to several schools, including J.H. Sissons and St. Patrick's, but was known just as well for being an enthusiastic outdoorsman, sportsman and volunteer.

"He had probably the best boat on the lake," Kindt said.

"He loved to spend his summer on the East Arm (of Great Slave Lake), taking people back and forth and fishing. Everyone knew him and his boat and he helped out a lot of people who got in trouble on the lake."

Merlyn Williams, who lived next door to Crane, said he had difficulty finding the words to talk about his long-time friend and darts partner -- the two travelled to Medicine Hat, Alta., last year and did quite well in the Canadian senior mixed competition.

"He was a good neighbor and a good friend," he said. "He is going to be sadly missed."

"He literally loved people and he knew people from all walks of life," Kindt summed up.

Crane leaves his wife and an adult son. A memorial service and remembrance of his life is planned for Tuesday, Jan. 6, in the gymnasium of St. Patrick's high school. His ashes will be scattered on the waters of the East Arm of Great Slave Lake this summer.