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Early Yk a town of opportunity Mike Haener remembers finding plenty of work in budding city upon arrival in 1953Thandiwe Vela Northern News Services Published Friday, January 4, 2013
The carpenter, in his late 20s, was immediately rejected for jobs at the mines because of an earlier constructive back surgery, but the gold activity spurred a housing boom in town. There would be no shortage of work for the young man. Haener met up with friend Max Andersen, and the pair founded the general contracting company Haener-Andersen Ltd. Its first job was to build the Wardair offices in Old Town. In his earliest days in Yellowknife, Haener also worked for builders Bert Lundstrom, Ivar Johnson, and Edmonton-based C.H. Whiton, and built city landmarks including the post office, and his favourite building project, St. Patrick's Parish downtown. "His timing was great," said son Richard Haener, who was born and raised in Yellowknife. Now 88, Mike Haener recalled recently what motivated him and Andersen to work so much. "We were anxious to get ahead and raise a family," Haener told Yellowknifer. "We seemed to attract those people who were happy to have us do some work for them, I think. Quite a few people were anxious to have us build homes for them." When his partner decided to move back south, Haener bought Andersen out of Haener-Andersen, and went on to buy Arctic Transit Mix, renaming the company Capital Transit Mix, which was Yellowknife's only ready-mix concrete plant. "Most of the basements here in Yellowknife, Mike put together," said wife Helena "Len" Haener, who met Mike while playing softball, shortly after she arrived in Yellowknife from Denhague in the Netherlands in 1963. Mike was "quite interested in her character," he said, and frequently dropped by her workplace, Sutherland's Drugs, before they were married in 1965. "He used to come in the store and most of the time he bought toothpaste and soap. When we got married, I looked over the sink and there was all this soap and toothpaste. It took me a long time to get through that," she said. Despite long work days, the couple often took vacations around the world, to the Netherlands and Hawaii with son Richard, and daughters Sylvia Haener, Madelon Haener, Frances Stroeder and Michel Haener. Sometimes they would visit Mike's family farmhouse, which he had helped build before moving north, in Cremona, Alta., the town near Calgary where Mike was born in 1924. Mike worked hard until 1999, sold his businesses, and finally retired at age 75. Much has changed in Yellowknife since Mike moved North. He remembers playing golf out of a crashed plane where the golf club stands today near the airport. Since suffering a stroke last May, he has lived at Aven Cottages, the territorial dementia facility, as he deals with Alzheimer's. Michel said his father was always very supportive of his kids' involvement in different sports and activities, Michel said. "He came out and watched all the time. He would do anything for his children," she said. "He's still got that selflessness. He cares so much about other people and he's still fun to be with." A dedicated Rotarian, Mike became the first documented Yellowknife recipient of Rotary International's Paul Harris Fellowship, in 1979, according toGarth Wallbridge, unofficial Rotary Club of Yellowknife historian. Wallbridge recalled Mike playing instrumental roles with the Kids Help Phone, the club's annual bicycle auction, and cited Mike's willingness to donate the occasional bit of free cement and lend community assistance with his portable construction shed. In 2005, city council passed a bylaw to name a roadway Haener Drive, located today in the Niven Lake subdivision. Mike Haener said the use of the family name for the road is an honour. "We thought that was quite a recognition," he said. "It was our goal to build something for Yellowknife, so that made me proud."
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