Garth Charles Denyer, born December 29, 1946 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, passed away peacefully on November 12, 2020 in the Woodlands, Texas. Garth received his M.D. degree from The University of Cape Town. Shortly thereafter, Garth left South Africa for England, residing in Portsmouth, a port city on England's Southern Coast. Garth and his growing family, which now included four sons and a daughter, departed England for Canada, taking up residence in Regina and Saskatoon, two cities in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.
After two years in Canada, Garth and his family departed for the United States, taking up residence first in tiny Waynoka, Oklahoma (population, 935), and then to Clinton, Oklahoma. As a practicing physician, Dr. Denyer was a do-it-all, "country doctor", a long lost art where an MD in rural areas of the country was asked to treat patients with a wide-range of maladies. Those were the days when specialists in the medical field were rare, and even rarer in the sparse counties of Northwestern Oklahoma.
After three years in Oklahoma, Dr. Denyer departed for the Lone Star State in August, 1981, choosing the Woodlands, TX as his forever home for his growing family, which included five sons and one daughter. The Denyer "around the world tour" continued once again, as the entire family loaded up into the blue and white Ford Econoline fleet van, leaving the Sooner State for the suburbs of North Houston. Dr. Denyer established the Oaks Medical Center, a primary care practice that grew to become one of the area's most well-known and successful medical facilities in the Spring/Woodlands area. Dr. Denyer loved his patients and they loved him - immensely.
But more than a doctor, Garth Denyer was a caring man, an individual who treated thousands of patients over his four-decade practice with the utmost professionalism and very best medical advice. And then there were the countless patients, many with dire financial conditions, that desperately needed medical care. Time and time again, Dr. Denyer treated them free of charge. As he saw it, giving back to those in need to the very community he lived in was a worthy and just cause. Dr. Denyer would often be found on the sidelines of McCullough High School Friday night football games as one of the team doctors, offering up medical support when needed. And who can forget the free physical exams he provided to coach Dan Green's cross country runners over the years.
Life was busy with six children, but he still found time to hit the waters of Lake Conroe and Corpus Christi for windsurfing, one of his true passions. He also loved animals, as he'd be the first to tell you that Sandor and Amira - his beloved Doberman Pinschers - and his African Grey Parrot - Koos - were his dear children, the very fabric of his family.
Dr. Denyer had an immense appreciation for the advancements of medicine, which resulted in what one would call an almost second career as a physician; the opening of North Houston's Cenegenics practice. There, with the love of his life Iryna, he helped transform patients' lives, giving them hope and optimism when most conventional remedies, diets, and exercise regimes fell short. His passion was medicine, yet through it all, he never forgot the importance of his family. His true love were his six children, five of which are still on this earth today, to which they are forever grateful for his presence in their lives.
Dr. Denyer is preceded in death by his father, Godfrey Herman Denyer, and his mother, Elititia Francis Denyer, his son Jarrod D Denyer and stepson Dennis. He is survived by his wife Iryna Voyutska, sons Robert [wife Margaret], Charles [wife Megan], Gareth, Anthony [wife Korri], daughter Britt, 11 grandchildren, and three of his siblings, Ronald Denyer, Renay Sack, and Sandy Smee.
The Denyer family requests donations to the Doberman rescue fund in lieu of flowers -
https://www.hadr.orgDue to COVID, the family will be holding private memorial services this weekend by invitation only.
Published by The Woodlands Villager from Nov. 22 to Nov. 23, 2020.