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GEORGE GIBSON Obituary
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Memories and Condolences
for GEORGE GIBSON
1 Entry
January 20, 2025
Even though we suspected it was coming for over a year, Dorine and I were really saddened when we learned of Tom´s passing. Our world will not be the same without him.
Tom & I referred to each other as cousins, but in reality, our fathers were first cousins which made him and me second cousins, I think. Anyway, it doesn´t really matter. I loved the man and we shared many fun moments and serious discussions together.
We first met in 1965 when I visited his family in Hamilton. He picked me up at the airport and offered me a cigarette, a Virginia Oval. Coming from Winnipeg, I had never seen the brand and actually thought he had sat on the package- and that was why the cigarette was oval. Not so. His father was the company Doctor for the manufacturer and the cigarettes were part of his compensation arrangement. Those were the days when Doctors smoked.
A few years later he visited us in Winnipeg and we spent a lot of time together getting to know each other. We borrowed our old Aunt´s old car to look for fun north of the city. On returning, we were stopped for speeding but received no ticket when Tom successfully argued that the car was so old it was very unlikely to have reached the speed limit, let alone exceed it.
In 1968 we moved to Vancouver and re-established up our relationship with Tom and his young family. One particular incident that I remember very well really defined Tom´s character and dedication to medicine in my mind. One of Dorine´s very good friends was going back to Winnipeg from Hawaii and stopped here. She was terribly sick and called us. In turn we called Tom who left home in the evening to see her in a rented room at the airport. He was able to help her a lot and she continued her journey after a day´s stay over here.
That so impressed me that I gave him the sobriquet "Superdoc" which is how I spoke to him forever after that time. And he was a super Doctor. Later on there was a website where people were able to rate their doctors. For fun, we looked up Tom´s rating, which was 4.99/5.00. That means 1 patient in 100 ranked him 4.9 while the other 99 had him a perfect 5.0.
Tom was a Doctor from the old school. He truly cared about his patients and would often call or visit them in the evening just to make sure things were on track. In private conversations with me he would complain about how underpaid Doctors were in BC, but he never let that interfere with his dedication to the patients he served.
He was a great guy! I loved him! I loved talking, laughing and arguing with him. There will be a real void in Dorine´s and my lives now that he has left this earth. Sleep well Superdoc, it was a privilege to be your relative, an honour to be your friend, and a delight to have known you for 60 years.
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