A former Whitehorse city councillor is being remembered as a conscientious worker who listened to the concerns of his community.

A celebration of Vern Toews' life is set to take place tomorrow in Haines Junction after his recent death.

"He was a good colleague,” Coun. Dave Stockdale told the Star this morning.

Toews served on council from 1980 to1985. He and Stockdale worked together as councillors for two years, with Stockdale elected to his first term in 1983.

Stockdale doesn't remember exactly how Toews voted on various issues. However, he does recall Toews taking a significant interest in Whitehorse and what residents wanted in their community, with each issue council looked at.

"He wanted to give back to the community,” Stockdale said.

Among the bigger issues council was tackling at the time was work on the city's water and sewer system, riverfront development and whether to build what is now the Takhini Arena or, instead, renovate the Jim Light Arena (now demolished) on Fourth Avenue.

Along with looking at those matters, Toews was involved in his community in many ways.

Stockdale recalled Toews serving as a territorial representative on a federal committee that looked at electrical rates in the 1980s.

His service on that issue followed a lengthy career in electricity.That began on a more informal note in high school when he and some friends hooked up speakers to an outhouse at a school dance, making comments whenever a girl went in.

Toews, originally from Wembley, Alta., would go on to attend the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology to get his electrical journeyman ticket.

It was through his career that he met his wife, Betty, when he was taken to the hospital following a mishap at a job site in Grande Prairie, Alta.

He married Betty, and, as their family grew to include three girls, Toews worked as an industrial electrician in Alberta's oil patch.

In 1972, Toews accepted the job as the chief electrical inspector for the Yukon government and stayed in that role until 1995, when he retired.

Along with his role as councillor and on the national committee, he was a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Lions Club, the community development committee in Haines Junction and a volunteer with the Silver Sled Dog Race.

Toews will be buried in Haines Junction.

He is survived by Betty and their daughters, Susan, Frances Graham and Michelle Christensen-Toews. and their families. along with his siblings.

The celebration of his life will get underway at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Haines Junction Community Hall.