The recent deaths of Bobby and Nellie Watson bring to an end another era in the territory's history, says Willard Phelps, a lifelong Yukoner who knew the Watsons well.

The Watsons had taken over ownership of Carcross's Matthew Watson General Store in 1959 when Bobby's father, Matthew Watson, retired from the business he began in 1911, years after he'd come across the Chilkoot Pass during the Klondike Gold Rush.

The Watsons, who were approaching their 90s, operated the store until their retirement in 1982.

They passed away last month within a couple of days of each other while living in southern B.C.

'She died first, and then he died, and that was good because they were very close to each other and it is hard to imagine one surviving the other very long,' Phelps said this morning.

Bob and Nell, he said, ran the store in the tradition patterned by Matthew. It continued as a business where families could go to get food and other goods on credit when times were tough.

'Frankly, when I look back, I can remember families who would have starved without the assistance of Matthew, and Bob and Nell.'

The Matthew Watson General Store was one of character that maintained a unique tie to the Gold Rush era, said Phelps.

As a young boy who spent the summers in Carcross at the family cottage, Phelps remembers working in the store in 1951, and again two years later.

Carcross was then a destination for tourists, many of whom would arrive on the White Pass train, and some of whom would take a trip around the Southern Lake system aboard the S.S. Tutshi.

Phelps said he remembered one hot summer day in '51 when a couple came into the store for a man's bathing suit. Matthew was out, and he promptly searched the back and found a box marked swim suits.

He opened the box only to find swim wear from 1912, in the almost full-length fashion.

Phelps turned red, the couple started laughing and when he told Matthew upon his return what had happened, Watson decided to sell off the stock, and didn't have much trouble as they were purchased for their unique style.

'He had all kinds of stuff like that,' Phelps said. 'It was just an amazing place to work.'

The store also carried a wide variety of supplies for miners, trappers and the like.

Matthew, and later Bob and Nell, would fill orders from railway employees and send them down the line, and if they didn't have an item, they'd get it.

The Watsons, Phelps explained, were from the era when the local store was more than just a store, when it was an essential fabric in a community whose residents often depended.

It wasn't just one, but many acts of kindness that make up the legacy of the Watsons in Carcross, he said.

Phelps said everybody he knew in Carcross, knew the Watsons.

He remembered that when the famous Polly the Parrot of the Carcross Caribou Hotel died in the early 1970s, there was correspondence coming in from around the world from people who knew of Polly.

Not to suggest a crass comparison, but Phelps noted that since he spoke of the late Carcross couple on the radio earlier this week, he's had 100 or more people talk to him about the broadcast and how they knew the Watsons.

The store was sold in 1982 to Jean and Stan Tooley of Whitehorse, who in turn sold it to Ron O'Connor of Whitehorse in 1998.

It remains the Matthew Watson General Store.