Yorkton Stories
by Dick DeRyk
Latest episode
SIGN, from a modest beginning in 1969
SIGN, from a modest beginning in 1969
About this podcast
A podcast hosted by Dick DeRyk about people and events, past and present, in Yorkton, Saskatchewan Canada. It is presented by Harvest Meats and Grain Millers Canada, and supported by Miccar Group of Companies, BakerTilly and Drs. Popick and Caines and associates, optometrists, all in Yorkton.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 48 episodes
- SIGN, from a modest beginning in 1969 · 58 min · Season 4 Episode 9In 1968 the idea first surfaced of establishing an organization in Yorkton that could assist people in ways that were not possible for individual churches, which were, at that…
- The extraordinary story of Hilda and Jack Law · 49 min · Season 4 Episode 8Late in winter of 2026 I spoke with Alvin Law about Yorkton’s Snowarama, a longtime fundraiser for what is now SaskAbilities. Each year the Council would name a Timmy, someone…
- Putting milk (and Vi-Co) on Yorkton's tables · 43 min · Season 4 Episode 7In the very earliest years of Yorkton in the 1880s, the pioneer residents in the village and on the farms either had their own cows for milk, or bought it from farmers. By 1891…
- Everybody's grandma · 1 h 0 min · Season 4 Episode 6Sherry Whitehawk has eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. For most grandparents that’s where the counting stops. Not so for Sherry. For clarification: many still know…
- She was Canada's first female plumber · 27 min · Season 4 Episode 5When Linda Cymbalisty married Joe Skomorowski, they set their sights on leaving Winnipeg and setting up their own plumbing shop in a rural town. And that included quitting…
- The long forgotten Terrier junior hockey team · 54 min · Season 4 Episode 4In 1997 Gene Krepekavich, the longtime Yorkton Terrier booster, volunteer and club president for six seasons published the history of the first 25 years of the junior Terriers…
- Snowarama started as a bumpy ride in a highway ditch · 59 min · Season 4 Episode 3A local fundraiser that started in a snowy highway ditch has grown into an event that refuses to slow down, and now includes wheeled riders in the desert. We follow the history…
- Duval Lang: High school football to professional live theatre · 45 min · Season 4 Episode 2Duval Lang, known to many as Duve, has been immersed in Calgary live theatre for 46 years now. He ended up there for university, and has called it home ever since, other than…
- Ruth Shaw: her story and the stories she wrote · 42 min · Season 4 Episode 1To the many newer residents of Yorkton, the name Ruth Shaw likely isn’t recognizable. But to those who lived here in the latter half of the previous century, the name, and the…
- Five Yorkton teens: the road from here to elected office · 57 min · Season 3 Episode 11They were typical teenage boys when they lived in Yorkton in the 1970s, 80s, and into the early 90s. They came from different backgrounds, attended school here, took part in a…
- About Dan the Storyman, Poetree and Friends, and ultra running · 36 min · Season 3 Episode 10Dan Calef was, and sometimes still is, Dan the Storyman, known locally as the story-telling head of the Yorkton public library from 1983 to 1999. He looked after story time for…
- Food security and 15 tons of potatoes · 32 min · Season 3 Episode 9In the summer and fall of 2025, several factors came together, one of them out of the blue, to tackle and do more about hunger and food insecurity in Yorkton. The first was in…
- Yorkton Psychiatric Centre was a first (and cutting edge) in 1964 · 53 min · Season 3 Episode 8Those working in the field of psychiatry and mental health treatment across Canada and the United States came to Yorkton in 1964 and 1965 in large numbers to see for themselves…
- Kristopher Grunert: the magic of photography · 51 min · Season 3 Episode 7Kristopher Grunert was born and raised on the family farm on Orkney Road, a short drive northwest of Yorkton. His parents, sister and he lived on land first established as the…
- Sigga Houston: the purposeful life of a pioneer doctor · 50 min · Season 3 Episode 6Dr. Sigridur (Sigga) Christianson Houston and her husband Dr. Clarence Joseph (CJ) Houston operated a medical practice in Yorkton for nearly 50 years, after a year in Watfort…
- Metro Prystai: his life in his words · 48 min · Season 3 Episode 5The hockey career of Yorkton’s Metro Prystai has been well documented. He had a storied career with the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings over a span of 12 years in the…
- Yorkton, the volleyball factory of the 1980s · 1 h 1 min · Season 3 Episode 4When it comes to Yorkton sports dynasties, the dominance of Yorkton volleyball teams and players in the 1980s stands out. Senior hockey had a good run with the Terriers winning…
- Alexa tells us about forensic pathology · 32 min · Season 3 Episode 3We haven't asked Siri, the Apple virtual assistant, about forensic pathology. But we did ask Alexa -- no, not Siri's counterpart at Google, but Alexa Haider, who graduates this…
- The changing face, and faces, of Yorkton · 1 h 14 min · Season 3 Episode 2Almost sixty years ago, when I first came to Yorkton, it was a very "white" community where the names were predominantly Ukrainian, German or British, reflecting the founding and…
- Not your conventional clergyman · 37 min · Season 3 Episode 1Shawn Sanford Beck -- born, raised and educated in Yorkton and area -- is now a pastor with the United Church in Saskatoon with a special mission. He was an Anglican priest, a…
