The community of Lake Laberge is quietly absorbing the shock of losing a dear friend this month, and sending their thoughts to the picturesque surf town of Tofino, B.C., where Ivan Polivka lived until his death on Oct. 19.

Polivka, along with fellow paramedic Jo-Ann Fuller, 59, died when the ambulance they were driving spun off the narrow, winding Pacific Rim Highway on Vancouver Island's west coast and crashed into the frigid waters of Kennedy Lake.

"It's really hard to even think of how to describe him or what to say,” Lake Laberge resident (and independent MLA) Brad Cathers said Thursday.

"It came as a huge shock. He was a great friend. It's been very upsetting for me and my family.”

Polivka first visited the Yukon in 1972, four years after coming to Canada from his native Czechoslovakia.

Polivka had been a journalist in his home country, but his criticism of the communists meant he had to flee shortly after the Russian occupation in August 1968.

He moved to the small resort community of Harrison Lake, B.C., where he worked in the kitchen and learned to speak English from the Russian-speaking Doukhobor girls whom he worked with.

With four languages already under his belt, Polivka was a quick study, and was soon fluent enough to work as a busboy, then a waiter at the Harrison Hotsprings Hotel.

He visited his future home of Tofino in 1971, then came to the Yukon for the first time the following year.

He fell in love with the place and would return every year for the rest of his life.

"Every year on his way up, he would deliver all sorts of things from down South,” Cathers recalled.

"He would bring people apples and potatoes from B.C. He would drop by my folks' place and give them an extra fish he had caught; just very generous with friends and a very helpful man.”

Polivka became a Canadian citizen in 1974. In 1989, he moved to Vancouver Island with his wife, Chris Webber. In 1996, he became a paramedic, the perfect job for "a strong man with a gentle touch,” writes his stepson, Fred Webber.

During one of his annual visits to the Yukon, Polivka bought an old trapper's cabin on Lake Laberge and planned to move there in his golden years.

"We're all very sad,” said Cathers.

"He was looking forward to retiring in the Yukon, and I and my family and lots of people in the area were looking forward to seeing him more.

"He was one of the nicest people you would ever meet. He was just so kind to everyone around. This was a place he really loved.”

Polivka was a pioneer at heart. He hunted and fished, "but had a love for all living things. He was an environmentalist long before the word became popular,” writes his stepson.

"Ivan was totally self-sufficient and could live off the land on very little – the ultimate survivor.”

He was an avid amateur photographer whose work appeared in the National Geographic magazine. He was a scuba diver, a carver, a baker, a poet and an artist.

A number of Polivka's paintings hang on walls around the Yukon, including at Whitehorse's Yukon Gallery.

"I bought one right after he died, just to have something to remember him by,” Cathers said. "It still doesn't seem true that he won't be here again.”

Polivka celebrated his 65th birthday last March, and on the same day put his house in Tofino up for sale.

"His dream was to spend his retirement years in the Yukon, the land he loved,” his stepson writes.

He had hoped to move here with his partner of 20 years, Chris Webber, but she died of cancer last November. Polivka regularly wrote letters to his Yukon friends, keeping them updated on her condition.

Polivka is survived by his two stepsons, John Lawrence (his wife May of Vernon, B.C.) Fred Webber (his wife Liz, of Harrison Hot Springs), five grandchildren, and six great grandchildren. He is survived by two brothers in Czechoslovakia, Jan Polivka (his wife Jirina, and children Katerina and Lucia), Jiri Polivka (his wife Alena and children Jana, Jiri, and Martin).

Speaking from Tofino, where a memorial for Fuller and Polivka was held on Wednesday, his stepson said:

"The world has lost a wonderful person. It's almost impossible to describe.”

A service for Polivka will be held at the Wickaninnish Elementary School in Tofino on Nov. 6.

Stories and condolences may be sent to the family via www.chapelofmemories.ca. Donations in Polivka's name may be made to the B.C. Children's Hospital.