William Lawrence Drury, a pioneer businessman who was raised in Whitehorse, died last week at the age of 89.

His friends remember him as a considerate gentleman with a range of interests. He was involved with the Taylor and Drury franchise that his dad co-founded, from a young age travelling the rivers to various trading posts.

Drury had his fingers in gold mining. He loved to play bridge, and always had a fancy for horses and cars. And he was hooked on history.

"You could ask Bill anything about the Yukon,” Goody Sparling, a lifelong Whitehorse resident who grew up with Drury, recalled in an interview Thursday. "I mean, he travelled the Yukon far and wide, with the stores and everything.

"He was very knowledgeable, and if you needed to know something, you could sure call Bill and get an answer.”

Drury died in his hometown of Sechelt, B.C., after a brief brush with cancer. A celebration of his life will be held Saturday, Oct. 10 at the Yukon Transportation Museum.

Bill and his wife, Marnie, were a great couple, and Sparling would often sit down with them and the late John Scott for a round of bridge.

"I am sorry that they left here,” she said. "I knew Bill all my life.”

Bill, she said, was a few years older, but back in the days of small town Whitehorse, "We were all good friends; it didn't matter about age.”

As the son of William (Will) Stephen Drury, the younger Drury would travel with his father to the different outposts where his dad handled the fur trading business with trappers in the area.

Will Drury did much of the field work while his partner, Isaac Taylor, managed the business from the Taylor and Drury headquarters in what today is the Horwood's Mall, said Drury's son, Bill Drury, who continues to run the Circle D ranch west of Whitehorse on land his father secured back in the 1960s.

"He shot his first moose in 1931 (at the age of 11) when he went with his dad to Pelly Banks up the Yukon and Pelly rivers,” said Bill. "He had a very interesting and full life. It was quite an adventure for him.”

After attending school outside, Drury apprenticed with a Vancouver furrier to improve his understanding of the fur industry.

In the later years of his involvement with the family business, however, Drury turned to the automobile sales when he founded Yukon Motors in the 1950s and took over the Pontiac, Buick and GMC lines

Taylor and Drury continued selling Chevrolets and Oldsmobiles.

All through his life, said Bill, his dad had a passion for horses, and while growing up, he would often head out to Champagne to visit and ride.

In the 1960s, he bought two of his own horses and was keeping them on the front lawn of the Drury House at the corner of Third Avenue and Hanson Street, now the office building for a law firm.

As downtown Whitehorse wasn't exactly ideal horse country, Drury sought and received a grazing lease west of Whitehorse – the roots of the Circle D.

Drury and his wife loved to travel, and not just any old way. They preferred booking passage on ocean freighters so they could see and experience every port city along the way where containers were loaded and unloaded.

He didn't like to fly, and whenever he visited the Yukon from Sechelt, he drove.

He loved his cars too, said Bill.

And he loved his history.

"I mean, he could remember what the price for a can a milk was in Teslin in 1942, and how many cans they had.

"It was very admirable the way he managed his life and his affairs, and how he dealt with people,” said Bill.

Jim Fordyce remembers how Drury made sure his employees were taken care of when he decided to retire from the Yukon Motors in the early 1970s.

Employees, he said, were given the opportunity to buy the different branches of the business; the main retail outlet, a tire repair shop, a radiator shop and a car rental business.

After more than 20 years working at Drury's side in the office as his service manager, Fordyce bought the Hertz rentals.

"It was very considerate of him to make sure the employees who worked for him for a long time were well looked after.”

Fordyce remembers his boss gave him a set of knives – with gold nuggets in the handles – to mark his 20 years of service.

Drury was well-liked, and treated people fairly, said Fordyce, who's been attending the Vancouver Yukon Association annual affair with Drury for the last couple of years.

"He was always fair with people, and he was always fair with me, that's for sure.”

Drury liked sports, particularly curling, said Fordyce.

"He was a good bonspieler,” he added. "He was a pretty good man. He enjoyed himself.”