A religious brother of more than six decades' service died yesterday while cleaning up after the Sacred Heart Cathedral's weekend soup kitchen.

Brother Cyprien Soucy, who built log cabin missions all over the Yukon in the 1940s and later donated his school janitor's salary to the church, was about three weeks shy of his 82nd birthday.

He'd lived in the Yukon since arriving in 1945, when his carpentry skills were quickly pressed into service to help build the rectory in Whitehorse. What followed was a quarter century at Lower Post school doing everything from driving the bus to baking for the school's residents.

His long career in schools wasn't to end with the school's closure in 1975, however, as he worked as a janitor in several Whitehorse public schools before he retired.

Born in 1922 as one of a dozen children óseven girls and five boys on a St. Basile, New Brunswick, farm, Soucy had the benefit of parents who believed strongly in education. Five of his sisters were teachers, and at about the same time Soucy retired from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, one of his brothers retired from his job as a school principal.

As noted in the local order's archived information, it was quite a sight to watch the French-Acadian Catholic family pile into the Model T Ford for Sunday Mass and Vespers.

After attending the local country school, Soucy entered Bathurst University. It was there in his fourth year an Oblates friend interested the young man in a religious vocation.

Brother Theriault told him 'Everyone is welcome, no special trade is required just the will to serve others and live a secure and quiet life.'

Soucy liked that idea.

Not knowing if his application would be accepted, young Soucy sold his text books to return home to the farm in February 1941. He left the family farm on Halloween that year to take a look at the order in Montreal, borrowing his $25 train fare from his parents.

As he left, he heard his father, Denis consoling his mother, Helene, 'Don't worry dear, he'll be back in a week or so.'

A week stretched into four years as Soucy passed the testing, took his vows in 1943 and was assigned to an Oblate farm in Quebec. He was able to make a short visit home in 1945 before his next posting Whitehorse, Yukon.

After helping to build the Whitehorse rectory when he arrived, Soucy built log cabin missions across the territory: Snag, Teslin, Ross River, Minto, Mayo, Upper Liard and Fort Nelson.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, mission work wasn't for paper shufflers.

'There was no place here for anyone accustomed to sitting behind a desk,' Soucy was quoted in a profile written for the diocese's newsletter. 'You had to be able to do your own cooking, know how to use a wood furnace and such, things I always enjoyed.'

When the Lower Post residential school opened its doors in 1951, Soucy was off to the first of many schools he'd eventually serve in.

He was a jack of all trades there. His first job was to look after the boilers, a task that had him cutting firewood much of the time.

He was later sent to a baker course, and proceeded to cook for the school's inhabitants, Sacred Heart Cathedral's Father Jim Bleackley said in an interview this morning.

Bus driver, carpenter, caretaker and boys' supervisor also landed on his Lower Post resume.

He also found time to join the local hockey team, and threw some rocks at area bonspiels.

Yukon summers were his favourite time of year as he joined Oblates at various missions.

'It could take 10 days to get to Ross River back then,' Soucy was quoted as saying. 'You had to take the truck across the riverbed and often it could get stuck and take a day or so to get out.'

When Lower Post closed in 1975, Soucy stayed behind for a year to supervise the closure.

Bleackley said in all of the conversations he's had with people dealing with abuses they suffered at Lower Post school, they always spoke about 'Souc' with fond memories.

'He was always taking them out fishing and back out into the woods, outings, giving them a chance to be on the land,' said Bleackley. 'They appreciated that.'

Upon his return to Whitehorse, Soucy worked in Yukon Hall, Takhini School and Selkirk School before spending a decade at Porter Creek Junior High as a janitor until he retired.

He donated his government salary to the Whitehorse bishop to be used for Yukon and Northern B.C. missions, Bleackley said.

'He was always giving things away to people,' the father said.

Though he retired from formal service in 1993 and moved to the Oblates Centre downtown, retirement didn't slow the brother down.

Many of the woodworking projects Soucy produced in the Oblates Centre's basement were given away, including a small willow table that ended up in the cathedral until it was stolen last year.

The brother could be seen on his daily rounds throughout Whitehorse, collecting cans in a cart for recycling from dumpsters and other such places.

'He had his little trapline,' said Bleackley.

'He was always on the go.'

Part of the money he gave away, some to the Catholic church's weekend soup kitchen, while the rest paid for his various wood projects and gardens.

A creator of gardens where ever he went, Soucy had to build wooden boxes for his tomatoes and flowers once he moved into the retirement home, surrounded by beds of pavement.

'He liked to putter around the garden,' said Bleackley. 'Part of his Acadian roots, I think.'

When he wasn't shovelling snow for neighbours, Soucy was a fixture at the church's weekend soup kitchen, held in the CYO Hall, to supplement the Salvation Army's soup kitchen, held every weekday.

The brother spent four or five hours every weekend setting up tables and chairs, and then taking them back down when the meal was done. He often stayed behind to mop the floors and vacuum, said Bleackley.

That was where Bleackley found the Oblates brother at about 6 p.m. Sunday. It appeared Soucy had been changing a light bulb, and had taken a tumble from the ladder.

Funeral arrangements are pending consultation with community and family.