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Kansas man who died in Newfoundland fire was visiting for dream moose-hunting trip

Eugene Earl Spoon, shown in this undated handout image, was an avid hunter, and he was in Newfoundland for a moose-hunting trip when he died in a hotel fire in Deer Lake, Newfoundland on Saturday Oct. 19, 2024.  THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Gina Heller Eugene Earl Spoon, shown in this undated handout image, was an avid hunter, and he was in Newfoundland for a moose-hunting trip when he died in a hotel fire in Deer Lake, Newfoundland on Saturday Oct. 19, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Gina Heller
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A 77-year-old Kansas man who died in a western Newfoundland hotel fire was fulfilling a dream of hunting a moose — and his daughter says he got one.

Gina Heller says her father, Eugene Earl Spoon, phoned her in a state of elation the evening before the fire to say he had successfully shot a Newfoundland moose.

She says he was an avid hunter and had planned his bucket-list moose-hunting trip for months.

During the call — her last with her father — he spoke of the kindness of Newfoundlanders, and even passed the phone to a woman he had become friends with so Heller could say hello.

Heller says the family received a call from police saying her father was missing after a fire on Saturday morning destroyed the Driftwood Inn in Deer Lake, N.L., where Spoon was a guest.

RCMP confirmed Wednesday that his remains were found during a search of the fire area.

Deer Lake Mayor Mike Goosney says Spoon's family has asked that the meat from their father's moose be donated to a local food bank.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2024.

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