Yellowknife (Jun 16/06) - Alex Czarnecki is like so many other southerners who came North for two years - then stayed.

He's been in Yellowknife since 1970 and now his contributions to St. Patrick high school and the city's theatre community have been immortalized with a plaque at the school.

It was unveiled during a recent ceremony put on by Yellowknife Catholic Schools.

"I was overwhelmed," said Czarnecki of the evening tribute. "Those were the fondest of my times in the North. I felt so small."

Czarnecki taught theatre, art, English and other subjects at St. Pat's from 1970 until 1980. He went on to run an award-winning film production company, was a founding member of the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre, and served a stint as NACC's artistic director. For two years, he ran a full-time theatre group, NACC Studio Theatre.

He left Yellowknife in the mid-1980s to work as associate artistic director of musical theatre at the Banff Centre, but returned to Yellowknife.

During the evening ceremony, organizers read congratulatory e-mails and letters from former students, colleagues and friends.

"He was one of the fathers of arts in Yellowknife," said Mary Vane, a friend and Yellowknife Catholic Schools trustee. "He was known in the Territories and beyond."

Theresa Crane said Czarnecki's theatrical productions went beyond the school walls, calling in parents, teachers from Yellowknife Education District No. 1, and government officials.

"I was supposedly the music teacher at Mildred Hall," laughed Crane. She became the musical director.

"It all happened after school time."

One former student said Czarnecki taught lessons that have lasted them throughout their adult lives.

"He gave us courage, raised our spirits and planted the seeds of our own visions of the future," wrote Vince Gauthier in an e-mail.

Among the tributes were messages from Sister Mary Lillian Kuntz, St. Pat's principal from 1972-1977; Chuck Love; and Fred and Cis Nakonechny.

"Obviously nothing was too great a challenge for Alex," wrote Sister Mary. "I recall Norm Byrne saying after seeing St. Pat's production of Fiddler, 'You know I saw that play in London, England, and it was not as well done.'"

The tributes were humbling, said Czarnecki.

"We do what we do and at the time we're doing it, we have no idea the impact a few words, gestures have," he said. "You don't set out to change people's lives."

One of the more touching tributes was a card from Harold and Zelda Glick, former Yellowknifers who donated funds to have trees planted in Czarnecki's name in Israel.

During his theatre career in Yellowknife, Czarnecki has been involved of 55 productions, from Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver and the Mousetrap at St. Pat's, to Man of La Mancha, Matonabee and Street Car Named Desire in the community.

Three of his productions travelled, one each to Saskatchewan, Whitehorse and Inuvik.

Fiddler, complete with 80 cast and crew and the complete set, flew aboard a Hercules, DC-3 and Twin Otter aircraft to Inuvik, to be performed for 2,000 people.

These days, he's working on financing a major motion picture about two of the North's mythic figures, Samuel Hearne and his native guide Matonabee, called The Wounding.

It's a massive undertaking that will take millions of dollars to film.

Czarnecki and his partner Carole Lane live in Old Town. His daughter Andrea recently gave birth to his first grandchild. Czarnecki said he's also planning a new series of paintings about Great Slave Lake.