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Noel Wright, CB, OBE, was born December 24, 1890, in England. He entered the Royal Navy in 1908 as an assistant clerk, serving on battleships such as the "Hindustan" and "Collingwood" early in his career. Wright served at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. After World War I, Wright served in Hong Kong, China, on the South African Cape, and in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, primarily as secretary to senior officers. Wright also spent time at the Admiralty Headquarters, Naval Intelligence Division, and in the late 1930s assisted with the evacuation of refugees escaping Spain. During World War II, Wright was a supply officer to fleets in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Wright retired from the Royal Navy in 1945 as a Rear Admiral.

Wright married Phoebe Gandon in 1921 and they had two children, a son and a daughter.

Following his retirement, Wright further explored his personal interest in the maritime explorations of the north, and particularly in Sir John Franklin's story, eventually writing two books about Sir John Franklin: New light on Franklin (1949) and Quest for Franklin (1959).

Noel Wright died April 18, 1975 in England.

John Raymond (Jake) Woolgar was born January 28, 1913, in Gregg, Manitoba. The son of James Linnet Woolgar and Winifred Mary Woolgar (née Boston), Jake spent many years as a pilot and prospector and worked across Canada, particularly in the north and west. He lived on Latham Island in Yellowknife for 28 years.

Jake spent his childhood in several towns in Manitoba. In the early 1930s, he prospected in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan. In the late 1930s, Jake learned to fly and went north to prospect around the Yellowknife area and on the barrens using his bush pilot skills. Jake married Mildred Lillian McEwing on February 10, 1937, but they were divorced on March 26, 1938.

Jake volunteered for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in June 1940 and became a flying instructor due to his experience. Disappointed and wanting to serve in combat, Jake pushed for an overseas posting; he was sent to India in 1942, then to Sicily. Jake began the war as a Flying Officer (FO) and was promoted to the rank of Flight Lieutenant. He was discharged to the Reserve list in June 1945.

Jake met Didi Stuart, born Mary Madeleine Skublics, while on leave in Cairo in 1945. Jake proposed to Didi when he met her again in Winnipeg, and they were married in Yellowknife on August 10, 1945. Jean Stuart, Didi’s daughter from her first marriage, came to live with her mother and Jake in Yellowknife in 1950, at the age of 11. Jake and Didi were divorced on November 8, 1967.

After the war, Jake worked at a variety of jobs, including recruiting for the Canadian Rangers, working for Sovereign Yellowknife Mines Ltd., and surveying locations for the DEW line from Labrador to Iqaluit, as well as prospecting in various locations. He also owned and managed two companies, Broncho Petroleums Ltd. and Woolgar Mining Services Ltd., and held stock in several other companies in the mining industry. Later in life, Jake developed medical problems which forced him to give up his pilot’s licence and took a government job as a corrections officer with the Yellowknife Correctional Institute.

Jake married Barbara Jean (Bonnie) Hunt (née Kinnaird) on September 23, 1976, in Edmonton, and moved to the city. They separated in November 1979 and Jake returned to Yellowknife. Jake and Bonnie were divorced on May 7, 1985.

Jake died on September 30, 1989. He is buried in the Veteran’s Block of Lakeview Cemetery in Yellowknife.

Didi was born Mary Madeleine Skublics March 29, 1914 in Czechoslovakia, the eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs Jan Skublics from Vesels. Educated in Lausanne, Vienna, and Dresden, Didi married Canadian William (Billy) Yule Stuart, a family friend, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. They had a daughter Jean in 1939, who lived with Didi's parents during WWII. Didi helped open the "Canada House" Royal Canadian Air Forces leave center in Cairo in the spring of 1943, and managed it until February 1945. Billy Stuart died in action on June 9, 1943. In 1945 Didi met Jake Woolgar at the Canada House while he was on leave.

Didi came to Winnipeg in the spring of 1945 to visit Billy Stuart's friends and family, and it was there that Jake Woolgar met her again and proposed to her. They moved to Yellowknife and were married the same day, August 10, 1945. Didi became quite active in the arts and handicrafts community in Yellowknife, and was once president of the Yellowknife Guild of Crafts.

Described as an "artist, craftsman and sophisticate", Didi was well known for her drawings and paintings of northern flora. She had exhibitions in Ottawa and New York, and had two paintings presented to the Duke of Edinburgh.

Didi died June 9, 2002.

Sources (in Vertical File): "The vivid world of Didy Woolgar." Imperial Oil Review, Vol. 44, No. 5, October 1960, p 37.
"The lady of the soapstone." Family Herald and Weekly Star, November 25, 1954, p 42, 45.
"From Cairo to Yellowknife." Mayfair, November 1945, p 82, 83, 108.

Harold S. Wilson, along with party members Kenneth McIntyre (Ken) Dewar, J.B. (Barney) Muirhead, and John Thomson explored the region which includes the Thelon and Hanbury rivers as a member of the Nipissing Mining Co. Ltd. exploration team sent north in the early summer of 1928. The Nipissing Mining Co. Ltd. would later conduct geological exploration in the Rankin Inlet area (1936-1939) but had no part in the mine which was built in the 1950s. Wilson and party's journey is known for the discovery of the bodies of John Hornby, Edgar Christian, and Harold Adlard, who had starved to death in the spring of 1927. They also discovered Hornby's handwritten note in a cairn at the site of his log cabin. The following year, 1929, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police returned to the cabin, as is written in the Winnipeg Free Press article from that summer.

David Scott Wilson was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia in 1912. He was the principal of the Federal Day School in Coppermine (Kugluktuk) from September 1954 to June 1956. He also taught in Frobisher Bay (Iqaluit) from September 1956 to June 1957. He died in Halifax, Nova Scotia on October 29, 1990.

Leonard Willing worked as an assayer at Negus Mine from 1938 to 1952.

Paul Williamson was a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) employee who transferred from Portage La Loche, Saskatchewan to Yellowknife. He remained in Yellowknife from 1939 until 1940.

Edward Whittaker (born ca. 1893), was educated in Ottawa. He married Bertha Winnifred Robertson on August 16, 1916. Between 1917 and 1921, Whittaker travelled in the Peace River region and in the Northwest Territories, as a geologist for the federal government. He died on September 24, 1924 as the result of a fall.

Wendell White's research into Nahanni history began as a classroom social studies project while he was teaching in the village of Nahanni Butte from 1978 to 1980. The project intended to provide the students with knowledge of their Dene traditions and culture. Village elders were recorded telling their stories and answering questions in the classroom. Recordings were also made of interviews outside the classroom. Mr. White collected other materials such as interviews with Euro-Canadian inhabitants of Nahanni, concerning their relation to the local native population. The intention was to turn the completed project over to the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Education, but this was not pursued due to the size and the cost of the project. In 1984, Wendell White approached Parks Canada with the material. The result was "The Birth of Nahanni--"Nahande Beguli: A local History of the People of Nahanni Butte" by Wendell White, published by Environment Canada, Parks, Ottawa, 1984.