Gayle M. Goertzen
Gayle M. Goertzen grew up in the GMG (Goertzen McGill Gildersleeve) logging camp in Smith Inlet. It is hard to find anyone who has even heard of Smith Inlet, but as anyone who grew up in the inlet knows, it becomes irreversibly a part of you, and affects your desires forever.
Gayle left Smith Inlet for highschool, then College, returning in the summers with her GMG girlfriends to cook for the logging crew – mostly their brothers. She met her husband, Jeff Kier, while in California obtaining her RN. They moved to Port Hardy (the closest town to Smith Inlet) and worked for James Walkus Fishing Company in summers, salmon seining with their three children. After moving away for many years, and gifting their children to the world, the magnetic pull of the wild BC coast has brought them back. They have a little boat, and on calm days they explore as many of the beautiful inlets on the BC coast as possible.