Paula White
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan 11/99) - When Lauren McKiel retired, he looked forward to long, relaxing days, puttering around the house and doing some fishing.

Oh, wait a minute. That's not Lauren McKiel. That's most people.

McKiel, who currently lives in Yellowknife with his wife Phyllis, retired from the RCMP in 1991 while living in Red Deer, Alta. At first, McKiel took it easy, working summers only at a golf course.

But then, in 1994, he quit retiring and moved to Yellowknife to set up and manage a security program for one of the diamond companies. He now owns Northstar Enterprises, an office and retail security management company.

McKiel has never been afraid to pick up and move to a new city or town. In fact, aside from when he was growing up, he has not spent more than 10 years in any one place. For example, McKiel has moved to Yellowknife four different times since becoming an RCMP officer in 1957.

McKiel was born in Campbellton, N.B., on Dec. 3, 1936. But he was brought up in Tide Head, a small town five miles west of Campbellton with a population of about 800. Although McKiel has no plans to return to Tide Head, other than to visit, his home town has a special place in his heart. This is evident because a large painting of the Restigouche river valley has a place of honour in McKiel's home, mounted on the wall behind the couch.

"Home, sweet home right here in the family room," he said, while pointing it out.

McKiel was the youngest of three children born to Frank and Isobel McKiel. He has two older sisters -- Alice who lives in Dalhousie, N.B., and Marina, a school teacher in Golden, B.C. His father, now 92 years old, and his mother, 88, still live in Campbellton.

About six months after graduating from high school, McKiel applied to become a member of the RCMP. Not quite 17 years old, however, he was placed on a waiting list.

In the meantime, McKiel went to work in the forestry industry in northern New Brunswick. He was a log counter at first, and then he drove a water tanker. After about a year and a half McKiel grew tired of forestry, and applied to the Canadian National Railway. He had just been accepted to train as an apprentice diesel electric mechanic when the call from the RCMP finally came.

"I wrote CNR a letter and said 'thanks very much guys, but I've decided to join the horsemen,'" McKiel laughed.

So, on April 16, 1956, McKiel travelled to Fredericton, N.B., and was sworn in. From there he went to Ottawa to spend the next nine months in training.

The first six months consisted not only of basic training, but working with horses as well. McKiel said in those days, all recruits were trained to perform the Musical Ride. He remembered having to muck out stalls every morning before breakfast, and there would be at least one riding class every day.

There were a total of 26 men in McKiel's troop that year -- and McKiel emphasized the fact that in those days, only men were allowed to join.

"No co-ed, damn it."

McKiel finished his training in January, 1957. His first official job as an RCMP officer was in Halifax, N.S. McKiel was only there a few months when he was assigned to land and forest patrols. This basically consisted of travelling around in an unmarked police car checking up on illegal hunting practices.

"I worked nights and weekends for those three months," McKiel said. "The night hunters were the ones we were after."

Eventually, McKiel wound up in Liverpool, N.S., where he spent about a year.

But what a year it was. Liverpool is where he met Phyllis.

"She was working in a men's and ladies clothing store and I went to buy my father a shirt for Father's Day and she helped me," McKiel explained. "She's been picking out shirts for me ever since."

At this time, McKiel was about 21 years old. And while he enjoyed life in the east, he was growing restless.

"I applied for Northern service," he said. "Adventurous spirit, I guess. I'd never been west of Montreal before that, so..."

So McKiel got his wish. In 1959, he boarded a train and moved to Fort Smith.

"I had my first airplane ride from Edmonton to Fort Smith on the police plane," McKiel said. He recalled it was a single engine Otter and he was the only passenger on board.

"It was quite the experience because I had a one-hour bladder for a six-hour flight," he laughed.

But McKiel was only in Fort Smith for three weeks before he was transferred to Fort Simpson. He and the corporal in charge were the only two officers working in the town, which, at the time, was largely populated by construction workers.

"These guys used to raise hell," McKiel remembered. "It was not without its challenges. It was a fun time though. Nice people there."

It wasn't long after McKiel moved North that Phyllis arrived as well. She immediately found work at the Hudson Bay Store.

"By this time we were engaged," McKiel said.

McKiel and Phyllis were married in Fort Simpson on Feb. 18, 1961. McKiel had already been transferred to Yellowknife at the time.

The McKiels spent three years in Yellowknife, during which time two of their three sons were born -- Carey in 1961 and Glenn in 1963. The McKiel's third son, David, was born in Whitehorse in 1964.

While in Yellowknife, McKiel was one of nine RCMP members. At the time, there were no police radios, so McKiel said all calls went through the town's telephone operator. As a result, she (and it was always a "she" in those days) played a key role in police business.

McKiel explained there was a tall flag pole set up outside the barracks. It was equipped with two red lights at the top. When a call for the police came in, the operator would let the members know by turning on the lights. McKiel said officers had to check the flag pole every 15 or 20 minutes and if it was lit up, they had to phone the operator to find out the details.

Next stop for the McKiels was Whitehorse. They lived there until August, 1965. At one point, McKiel worked in the detective division, investigating homicides and other crimes. He worked on a 13-month investigation which ended with two people going to prison for four years for stealing silver ore.

McKiel then got transferred to Frobisher Bay (now known as Iqaluit) in August, 1965. McKiel said when they arrived, it was pouring rain and there was nobody to meet the plane. In fact, McKiel said, nobody in town had been informed they were coming, therefore, no living arrangements had been made for McKiel, Phyllis and their three young children.

And that wasn't the end of their troubles. McKiel almost missed the deadline to order the family's supply of food for the next year. Having brought no supplies with them, they were forced to live on canned items from the Northern Store. McKiel said there wasn't exactly a lot to choose from because the store was also waiting for its annual supply of food.

"So ask us the last time we had canned sausages," he said wryly. "We laugh about it now, but it was pretty grim."

The McKiels were then transferred to Cape Dorset in 1967. By this time, McKiel had been promoted to corporal. Part of his job involved travelling by snowmobile to check on eight Inuit families living along the coast. He would have to travel as much as 389 miles to reach one family.

McKiel said he would often accompany the families on caribou hunts during these trips. He remembered the most each family ever killed was two caribou.

"And they brought everything back except the hooves," he said. "Nothing was wasted."

Two years later, in 1969, the McKiels were on the move again -- this time back to Yellowknife. McKiel said he and Phyllis didn't mind the frequent moves even though they were raising three boys at the time.

"We were young. The whole thing was an adventure," he said. "Luckily, we made the best of it and enjoyed it."

Then, after 12 years in the North, the family decided to try living in the south again. They spent two years in Charlottetown, P.E.I. and four years in southern Ontario.

While in Ontario, McKiel was promoted to sergeant and placed in charge of the newly-created Mississauga detachment. He was part of a team that made a huge dent in the drug industry -- seizing more than $7 million in drugs in his first six months there.

But the family began missing life in the North, so in 1979, McKiel requested a transfer and headed for Yellowknife once again. But it wasn't long before the couple was transferred again. This time, it was to Halifax, N.S., and this time, it was without the three boys.

Eventually, McKiel and Phyllis wound up in Red Deer, Alta., where, after 36 years of service in the RCMP, he retired in 1991. The couple decided to move back to Yellowknife in 1994.

Over the years, McKiel has had several interesting "run-ins" with England's royal family. The first took place in 1958, where McKiel was part of Princess Margaret's guard. He was also her personal officer during her visit in 1988.

McKiel was also in Yellowknife in 1970 during the Queen's visit. Prince Charles was also here, and McKiel said he used to go fishing every night.

"I was his personal escort when he went fishing at night," McKiel said, and added the Prince would sometimes fish until 3 a.m. "This guy loved to fish."

While in Toronto, McKiel was also part of the Queen Mother's guard. He has also met Prince Andrew on more than one occasion.

In 1984, when Pope John Paul III was scheduled to visit Fort Simpson, McKiel was assigned the task of planning the security. He even had his picture taken in the "pope-mobile." But the Pope couldn't make it that year because fog prevented his plane from landing. It wasn't until a year and a half later that the Pope finally visited Fort Simpson.

Currently, only the McKiel's oldest son, Carey, lives in Yellowknife. The other two boys live in Alberta -- Glenn in Fort McMurray and David in Ardrossan.

All in all, the McKiels have enjoyed their time in the North. At the moment, they have no plans to move from Yellowknife, but neither do they plan to retire in the south either.

Only they know where they will end up next.