LeRoy’s Robert Damm asked his wife, Pat, what the best years of their nearly 51 year marriage was.
Without hesitation she said the four years they spent in the Yukon from 1971-1975.
That was the title of Damm’s 2012 self-published collection of stories, Four Years in the Yukon, which he shared with Humboldt at the reading on March 20 at the Reid-Thompson Public Library.
Damm was a principal in a Yukon K-8 school and had plenty of stories about students he knew, crazy characters that he got to meet, and difficult times being away from family.
Students had an impact on Damm with the memories still being very clear in his mind, even 40 years later.
One such student still makes Damm tear up as a young girl with a white father and aboriginal mother tearfully confided in Damm about her identity.
The girl had been teased about her mixed heritage and she cried to Damm one day after school about not knowing whether she was white or aboriginal.
Damm advised her to just be herself, which eased the young girl’s mind.
While Damm had many happy memories, like beer curling and being dumped on from an aerial firefighting helicopter, some of the stories still cause Damm some pain.
Damm tearfully read about visiting his mother for the last time in Saskatchewan. Shortly after returning to Yukon, he received the news that his mother had passed away.
While this story of his life in the Yukon was self-published, Damm has taken the plunge into commercial publishing with his next book, Heaven or Hell.
Damm’s newest sci-fi novel will explore religion, mystery, and horror but has a little bit of everything.
