A pillar in the Yukon's entertainment industry, Bill Reid gave more to his community than a half-century of melody a lot more, by all accounts.

Reid the musician, the sports enthusiast, the pilot died in Whitehorse last Saturday after a battle with cancer.

Described as a guy who was glued to the zest in life, whether it was never missing a gig with his Northernairs dance band, or getting his private pilot's licence at 47, Reid won his first fight with the disease in the mid-1980s after being diagnosed in 1984.

And he brought no less determination to win over cancer a second time, though at 75, he was unable to.

'Driven,' is how life-long friend Gary Pettifor describes Reid.

'He was always wanting to be doing something, and if you wanted to do something, he would always be there with you.'

Pettifor first knew Reid as a fireman back in the days when Reid and Pettifor's dad worked for the Whitehorse airport firefighting service, before Reid crossed over to the city's firehall in the early 1970s.

Gary joined the city's firefighting ranks in the 1978, and worked with Reid until he retired in 1985.

It's not just as a firefighter or even the leader of one of the Yukon's most popular dance bands does Pettifor remember the man who he says helped him in many ways.

It was Reid who provided Pettifor with some early investment opportunities that he continues to hold today. It was the Reids who helped Gary and his wife, Dianne, locate a cabin to buy on Marsh Lake about 10 years ago.

They would go snowmobiling together, ride their all-terrain vehicles together, and fly in Reid's plane occasionally.

Just a couple of years ago, the Pettifors and the Reids were up sledding on Golden Horn Mountain. It's not often you see seniors sledding up on Golden Horn, Pettifor quipped.

Then again, on Rusty's 75th birthday a couple of years ago, she was out waterskiing in front of their Marsh Lake cabin, and Bill was driving the boat.

They were much more than the 50-odd years of dedication they brought to the Northernairs band, Pettifor said.

'They are so community-oriented,' said Pettifor, who together with Blair Corley nominated the Reids for the 2004 Commissioner's Award for Community Service. 'They were just into everything together. Where Bill was the president, Rusty was the secretary. Oh yeah, they were like bookends.'

When Rusty was running a women's fastball team, Bill was umpiring.

Bill served for seven years as president of the Whitehorse Flying Club from 1982 to 1989, with Rusty as secretary.

They were instrumental in organizing the Yukon's branch of the Civilian Aircraft Search and Rescue Association, and were on the ground floor for the start-up of the Yukon Sports Federation. Both have been inducted into the Yukon Sports Hall of Fame.

The Reids were presented with the Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002 by then-governor general Adrienne Clarkson.

And the list goes on, like Bill's involvement with the project to set the city's DC-3 weather vane in its place.

Born in Wallace, Nova Scotia on April 17, 1930 as the last of 12 children in what was a musicial family, Reid left home at 18 to explore the further reaches of Canada, and ended up in Vancouver in 1949, where he met Rusty. Engaged in 1950, and after heading north to the Yukon in May 1951 to visit one of Bill's sisters, the Reids were wed on Nov. 21, 1951 at the Old Log Church.

Reid was a man of intergrity, who was always willing to provide a helping hand, son Dave said in an interview while in Whitehorse this week.

'He did more things for more people ... he helped them with their mortgages, to get their first house, to get their first car.'

Dave described his dad as frugal but generous, generous but astute.

'It was his heart, he had the biggest heart of anyone I know,' said Dave.

As a pilot with Air Canada, Dave obtained his pilot's licence before Bill, but it was his dad who encouraged his grandson Cameron to continue the passion for flying. And it was Bill who provided Cameron with his first airplane.

Before taking flight and earning his pilot's licence, Dave was also among the list of musicians who played for a time beside his mom and dad, as a trumpet player for Bill Reid's Northernairs.

Of the 12 children in Bill Reid's family, nine of them played a musical instrument. Bill played in his first band at the age of 14. Growing up in Moose Jaw, Sask., Rusty picked up the fiddle at the age of 11.

It was after their move to Whitehorse that Bill was asked to get a band together for a dance at the Elks Hall. Bill agreed, but only if Rusty would accompany the band with her fiddle. Hence the beginning of a half-century of entertaining Yukoners, from one end of the territory to the other.

Wayne Smyth was attending F.H. Collins Secondary School when he was recruited to play for the Northernairs in 1971, at the age of 13.

Bill knew he would be needing a drummer, and was told by Dave of a fellow band member at F.H. who played the drums.

Reid sent his trumpet player, Jack Earle, to audition Smyth, who was asked if he could play a polka, a waltz, some Rumba.

'Jack went back to Bill and said, Hey, I think this kid can do it.''

For 15 years, up until 1986, when he began his pursuit as an RCMP officer, Smyth played with the band, and again from 1990 to 1993 upon his return to Whitehorse.

Smyth said what he remembers fondly about Bill in his early days with Northernairs is how the band leader never talked down to him as a young kid, but treated him as the drummer, as any other member of the Northernairs.

'It was just incredible,' Smyth recalled in an interview Tuesday. 'We basically went from Skagway to Ross River, and every place in between.'

He remembered, in 1977, how the Northernairs were booked to play the New Year's Eve dance in Atlin, and how Dawson City called up late in the month to see if they could come to Dawson.

'So Bill asked them why they didn't have New Year's Eve on Dec. 30?'

The Northernairs were off to Dawson on the 30th, loaded up the vehicle and headed back to Whitehorse at about 4 a.m., showered, shaved, and were in Atlin for their annual gig.

Bill insisted on being punctual, said Smyth. Breaks were short, and band members were expected to come to play every night.

Smyth said the reliability of the Northernairs fostered by Bill was part of the band's success.

His favourite story of Bill and Rusty, and the Northernairs, was when the band was booked for a substantial event in Elsa.

Only when they got to the Elsa Recreation Centre, they found the black keys of the piano Bill was supposed to tickle for the night had been cut flush with the tops of the white keys.

Off they went to Keno, loaded up another piano, and hauled back to Elsa, and up the stairs into the hall.

'And we started on time,' Smyth said. 'That was just the way Bill was. If something went wrong, he'd find a way to fix it.'

When there was a young couple starting out and needing a break, or an organization holding a benefit, Bill would ask the band members if it was OK before he'd cut them a deal. And he always paid his musicians promptly.

'I was making about $25 or $30 a night, and when you are a kid of 14, it doesn't get any better than that,' he said. 'I tell you, I will miss that man. He was just a fantastic guy to work with.'

With all the talk of the memories of Bill's and Rusty's accomplishments in the community, on stage, along the shores of Marsh Lake and the side of Golden Horn Mountain, one thing sticks out above all for Nora Reid, Dave's wife.

'What impressed me most was his love for his wife.'

In addition to Rusty, and Dave and Nora of Delta, B.C., Reid is survived by his daughter, Shelley Biden, of Penticton, B.C., and several grandchildren.

A celebration of Bill Reid's life is scheduled for March 26 at the Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre.

See more photos opposite.