Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Feb 19/99) - Inuvik lost a long- standing and dedicated community member Feb. 7 when George "Buck" McLeod died of heart failure.

After serving in the Second World War, he spent several years in various communities around the NWT, Yukon, Alaska and B.C., before finally settling in Inuvik.

"He was a gentleman," says long-time resident, friend and Lions Club member Vicki Boudreau.

"It didn't matter if you were a teenager or an adult, he got along with everybody. He's really going to be missed in town. He was just a friendly guy."

The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 220 made Buck a lifetime member last year. He had previously served as president, vice-president, sergeant-at-arms and, most recently, as cadet liaison officer.

As a Lions Club member he was president, vice-president and tailtwister, and for his efforts, the club honoured him with the Melvin Jones Fellowship to recognize his dedicated service. Buck was also a volunteer firefighter for 10 years.

"He cooked corn for Delta Daze for years and years and years. Finally it was getting to be too much for him, but he would never admit that himself," Boudreau says.

"He just wanted to help out and do as much as he could. It's too bad he's gone."

Buck is survived by four children and 13 grandchildren, all of whom live outside Inuvik.

Former mayor and lifetime Inuvik resident Paul Komaromi says he will remember Buck for his personal strength and confidence.

"I was talking to him a month ago and it still gave me the same feeling of humility as it did when I was younger listening to him talk with my dad (John) about the war," Komaromi says.

"He was a very caring individual."

Pallbearers included a cross-section of community groups: Terry Rafferty and Wally Wolfe from the Lions Club, Lieut. Mark Gould and Capt. Rick Lindsay from the volunteer firefighters, Const. Paul Joy and Const. Michael Nussbaumer from the RCMP and Frank Hansen and Ian Butters from the Royal Canadian Legion.