DR. GARY LINDSAY

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DR. GARY LINDSAY

February 19, 1948 - June 15, 2023

Gary was born on February 19, 1948, in his grandparents' (Robert and Elizabeth Lindsay) Tamarac log house on the homestead farm, Section 4-22-15, Ste. Rose Municipality. His father Arnold had met and married his mother Rose Fortune while serving as an officer in the RCAF in England during WW2. It was winter and the roads were blocked, so it was a complicated trip involving cars and a horse and sleigh to bring the doctor to the house. Now that was a house call!

Gary would spend the next seven years living on a farm adjacent to his grandparents. For grade one he attended Bracken School, a one-room rural school accommodating grades one to eight. In 1954, his father decided that farming wasn’t for him so he applied and got the job as postmaster in McCreary. Gary had part time jobs delivering the Winnipeg Free Press and running projectors at the local theatre. He belonged to the local army cadet corps, earning a master cadet. This allowed Gary to attend summer camps in Vernon, BC, Banff, AB, and Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies. Leisure time was spent camping with the family at Lake Dauphin or Lake Manitoba in the summer and skiing at Aggasiz in Riding Mountain National Park in the winter.

Following grade 12, he enrolled at the University of Manitoba, firstly taking sciences and then psychology in the BA (Hon) program, graduating and winning the gold medal in 1970. After a year completing the Master of Arts program, he decided on medicine and entered the U of M Faculty of Medicine. It was during this time that he married his first wife Carolyn Lambert, having two children; a son Sean in 1975 and daughter Nancy in 1980.

After graduating in 1975, he did a two-year residency in family medicine then moved to Brandon joining the Western Medical Clinic with privileges at the Brandon General Hospital. He was involved in numerous medical organizations; the Manitoba chapter of the College of Family Physicians (Pres 1984), the executive of College of Physicians and Surgeons (Pres 1997), and the executive of the Medical Council of Canada (Pres 2004). He served on many committees at the Brandon General Hospital and was a lecturer at the University of Manitoba, teaching undergraduate students during their rotations in Brandon. Amongst his various roles, his greatest professional love was his day to day contact with his patients at the clinic and in hospital.

But all was not work. He didn’t play much golf, as he thought it took away too much time from his family. They canoed, kayaked, and camped in the summer and downhill and cross-country skied in the winter. In 1993, he married his second wife Janice and adopted her three girls, Dawn, Jennifer, and Kristina. He and Jan thought they should see Canada, so for a month on three consecutive years they toured Canada; the west coast, east coast and then northern Manitoba. They fell in love with the Canadian Shield and in 2000 bought a cabin at Otter Falls in Whiteshell Provincial Park.

Illness struck Gary when he developed lymphoma in 2002. Fortunately, after chemotherapy he went into remission. He eventually decided to reduce his work hours. In 2008, he left the Western Medical Clinic and took a job as a part time medical officer at C.F.B. Shilo. With more leisure time they were able to build a larger winterized cabin in the Whiteshell. Many days were spent entertaining family and friends, kayaking, swimming off the pontoon boat, sitting on the dock drinking wine, as well as cross-country skiing and snow shoeing in the winter. Many evenings were enjoyed playing dirty marbles, the card game. More time allowed Gary and Jan to spend a holiday each winter in Puerto Vallarta and environs in Mexico, with the occasional ski trip to Banff, Big Sky or Whitefish in Montana. Numerous visits were made to explore Great Britain and visit the English cousins. More time also allowed for a trip to China, a river cruise on the Danube, a cruise to Hawaii, and winter trips to visit his sister in Yuma, Arizona.

Illness struck again in 2016 when he developed multiple myeloma, possibly related to the previous toxic chemotherapy from his lymphoma. After a near-death experience from a respiratory infection, he spent two months in hospital recovering. He responded to treatment and in the fall of 2016 he underwent a stem cell transplant. Although this was successful, myeloma is not curable. It did extend his life for a further 6 plus enjoyable years.

In the fall of 2019, just before covid, Gary, Jan, and two friends visited Barcelona, took a cruise of the western Mediterranean, and for Jan’s bucket list, spent a week in Tuscany. Covid put an end to travelling but he still spent many enjoyable times with family at home and the lake.

Eventually therapeutic options ran out for Gary and he died peacefully with his family by his side on Thursday, June 15, 2023. He was predeceased by his parents Arnold and Rose and his younger brother Melvin. He leaves to mourn the love of his life, his wife Janice, son Sean (children Rowan, Czesia and Orson), daughter Nancy Deniset (Mike, children Joey and Julia), daughter Dawn Espinoza (children Gabriela, Diego, and Angelo)(partner Al Mukete), daughter Jennifer Heise (Shawn, children Adelynn, Quinn and Tanner), daughter Kristina Lindsay (Chris Claeys, children Lake and Blaise), sister June Bell (Doug), brother Stanley Lindsay (Angie), mother-in-law Dorothy Clark, brother-in-law Del Clark (Bev), sisters-in-law Doreen Dietrich (Ron) and Erla Buchanan (Dave) and numerous nephews and nieces.

A special thanks to Doctors Maier, Connelly and Bookatz of the Western Medical Clinic, Dr. Rina Fourie at BRHC, the caring staff of the palliative care unit and 300 general centre, and at the Cancer Care, Dr. Erica Moller, Dr. Dau and the caring staff.

As per his wishes, a small funeral service will be held. The family invites you to watch the livestream of Dr. Gary Lindsay's Celebration of life by visiting his tribute wall at www.brockiedonovan.com on Tuesday, June 27, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made either to the Brandon Humane Society, 2200-17th Street East, Brandon, MB, R7A 7M6 or to the Western Manitoba Cancer Centre, c/o Brandon Regional Health Care Foundation, 150 McTavish Ave. East, Brandon, MB, R7A 2B3.

Messages of condolence may be placed at www.brockiedonovan.com

As published in Brandon Sun on Jun 24, 2023