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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Saskatonians Kim McQuatt and her mother Robin have been searching for Dewaine Dutkowski, Kim's uncle and Robin's brother, for years.

"We did have some contact with him until my grandmother died when I was about 15. Well I'm 42 now," said Kim.

Dewaine Dutkowski, left, and his sister Robin, are shown here in a picture taken as children. Robin McQuatt lost track of her brother following the birth of her grandchild in 2001. Robin McQuatt, pictured here, learned of her brother's death after her daughter Kim conducted a Google search in 2007 and found an obituary notice. Kim McQuatt has been searching for her "favourite uncle" for years. She found him with a Google search in June. - photos courtesy of Kim McQuatt

Believing he was in Yellowknife, Kim's family enlisted the help of RCMP here and a family member even visited years ago to scour the town in search of him.

"But (with) no forwarding address, nowhere to really find him, where would you even begin to look? That's the problem," said Kim.

"Of course if you don't want to be found, you're not going to be found," added Robin, 64.

But, with an ever-expanding database on the Web, it's also hard to stay lost. Kim finally found her uncle in June.

"It wasn't until one night we decided to Google his name that we found where he was," said Kim.

"Unfortunately it was a memorial page."

Dutkowski died on June 12, 2007. At the time, believing Dutkowski had no family, Harley's Hard Rock Saloon staff put together the funeral arrangements for the long-time patron and employee.

Dutkowski, who was affectionately known as "Perv" to the Harley's crew, was buried with half the original brass pole from the strip club. The other half adorns his headstone.

It was an obituary in Yellowknifer that turned up the search hit on Dutkowski. Kim said one family member had tried the search engine before Dutkowski's death but was not able to find anything.

"You can imagine my shock and my pain when all of a sudden I see this memorial page," said Kim.

"The worst part is I had to go tell my mother and this is her only brother."

The last time Robin had spoken to her brother was in 2001, when she called him to let him know about the birth of her granddaughter.

Robin said she had tried phoning since then but had no luck. Now, the McQuatts and their extended family are reaching out to Yellow--knifers who knew Dutkowski.

"I'd like to know more, not just on the last days of his life, but I'd like to know where he worked, how he worked, where he lived - just everything about as much as we can just so that we have something, anything more to hang on to," said Kim. Robin said she has no judgements to make on Dutkowski's lifestyle.

"I loved him, he's still my blood," she said.

"I know he had a lot of friends up there ... we want to hear some positive stories," she added.

Both Kim and Robin have fond memories of Dutkowski.

"I remember being a little girl and looking up at my uncle and just thinking he was the most amazing man on the face of the planet," said Kim.

"He was full of piss and vinegar - always teasing me because I was the baby," added Robin, who is five years younger than her brother.

"And (he could) swim. Oh my he was a beautiful, beautiful swimmer," remembered Robin.

"And a very good artist. He could copy anything just by hand."

As the McQuatts try to piece together a picture of the man they love from a string of memories collected from Yellowknifers, they want Dutkowski's adopted family to know there are others who miss the man.

"He did have a family. He's got aunts and uncles and cousins that love him very much and are very sad at the loss," said Robin.

Those with stories are asked to e-mail Kim at: kmcquatt@hotmail.com. Harley's Hard Rock Saloon was not available to comment before press time.