John Allan Eadie, M.B., Ch.B., D.P.H. (Edinburgh).
(21 October 1920 – 09 May 2014)
John was an amazing family man – a compassionate man, a man of vision and a man of action. He was born in Brigham, Cumberland, England to John Allan Eadie and Mary Telford, and raised in Harrington. As a young man he attended Preparatory School Sedburgh and then Sedburgh before proceeding to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine, where he excelled. While studying, he actively played rugby, soccer, tennis, field hockey and cricket and was captain of many of these teams and won his Edinburgh ‘Blues’.
He served as a Lieutenant and then Captain with the Royal Army Medical Corps in Burma/Rangoon during World War II – with the 47th Indian Field Ambulance, attached to the 23rd Indian Infantry Division of the 15th Indian Army Corps. Like many veterans he rarely spoke of his War experiences - but when he did his stories were truly moving.
Returning to England after the war he completed his medical studies and married Patricia Eleanor D’Arcy Bruce-Kerr, a nurse, in Barbon, England in 1946, daughter of Florence Kells and Rev. George Bruce-Kerr, who officiated at the wedding.
In 1950 he moved his family from Edinburgh, Scotland to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada. He thoroughly enjoyed outdoor living, hunting, canoeing, fishing, snow shoeing, cross country skiing, tobogganing, etc. In 1955 the family moved to Winnipeg, and later he purchased a cabin on Big Whiteshell Lake, Manitoba, where he would eventually spend his retirement summers exulting in family and his beloved outdoors. The whole family has shared his legacy.
John worked as a Director of Public Health in Manitoba for many years and gradually rose to become the Director of Epidemiology for the Province of Manitoba. He served the Province of Manitoba for 35 years establishing several province wide programs, which were ground breaking in their day, including Vision Testing in Schools and a Provincial Hearing Loss Prevention Program.
He was an avid breeder and trainer of English Springer-Spaniel trialing dogs and personally trained several champions, including Prairie Pride and Kaymac’s Kiltie, who was the first true North American Triple Champion Dog (both the United States and Canada) and she was later entered into the Springer Spaniel Hall of Fame in Tennessee. He travelled internationally to train and trial his dogs until he was in his mid seventies, when he decided to ‘slow down’ and train dogs, who achieved notoriety, for other handlers and was actively doing so well into his mid eighties.
John and Pat moved to British Columbia in 1989 and lived in Trout Creek for many years. Here John’s passions were his home gardens, his dogs, the Summerland Research Station gardens, local political issues and he also spent at least 15 years working to re-establish the blue bird populations in the Bald Range behind Summerland. In his later years, he delighted family and friends of all ages, even in a classroom with his granddaughter Sheena, a teacher, with his stories and sharing thoughts about his life – and published a family treasure “Oh! Before I Forget ...”.
He moved briefly to Peachland before ‘retiring’ to Athens Creek Lodge, in Penticton, British Columbia in 2006, where he spent the remainder of his life being an active humanitarian and correspondent.
John was pre-deceased by his wife Patricia in 2000 and his daughter Alison Stolen-Eadie in 2010.
His passing is mourned by his children: Jack, Sheelagh, Donald and Kenneth; spouses: Carmen, Richard, Sharon, Dennis and Gayle; grandchildren: John, Katherine, Andrew, Sheena, Shawn, Jennifer, Krissy, Thomas, Samantha, Jessica and Erika; great grandchildren: Alice, Kalem, Kallan, Anglin, Juna, Kaylee, Chloe and Donovan and his best friend Betty.
John chose to be cremated. A celebration of his life will be held at Athen’s Creek Lodge, 170 Warren Avenue East, Penticton, BC, on Friday May 16, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.; and then at Big Whiteshell Lake, Manitoba, later in the summer at a date to be determined. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Southern Interior Bluebird Trail Society (SIBTS), P.O. Box 494, Oliver, British Columbia, Canada V0H 1T0.