KINGSWOOD ASSOCIATION NEWS 2020-21 OBITUARIES
OBITUARIES John Winskill Baker (FRCGP) KS 1945-1954 John was born in Winterton, North Lincolnshire in 1935 and remained throughout his life a 'Lincolnshire lad.'
Dr Winston Backus KS 1931-40 Dr. Winston Osler Backus passed away June 15, 2020 at the age of 99. He was born in Eckville, Alberta to Dr. Percy and Verna Backus on October 12, 1920. He received his medical degree from the London Hospital in London, England in 1946. After 5 years in the British army he and his wife, Valmai and 2 sons returned to Ponoka, Alberta where he joined his brother in medical practice. He moved with his family to Grande Prairie, Alberta in 1956 and served the community in many ways, as a doctor and an MLA. In 2016 he and his wife Myrtle moved to Spruce Grove, Alberta and he subsequently to Copper Sky. He was predeceased by his parents, his brother and his wife, Valmai. He leaves to mourn his passing his wife Myrtle, sons David, Richard and Robert; daughter Elizabeth; stepchildren Ried, Wayne, Don and Myrna plus 20 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren.
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His life and mine coincided to a remarkable degree, at school, at Oxford and in later life when we both settled in Kent. He was sent as a boarder to Prior's Court Prep school and had the luck to witness the VE Day celebrations in Trafalgar Square on his journey to school in 1945. At Kingswood School we were both members of the same House, School House, and played in the same Rugby teams. Curiously, we then became in successive years, 1953 and 1954, the first two Stallybrass Exhibitioners at Brasenose College, Oxford. John studied medicine at Oxford but for a short time we shared two things, a girlfriend (later to become my wife) and a car (a wonderful old Alvis). We also played for the BNC Rugby team, which John captained in 1956-7. As a Rugby player John made up for his relative slightness of build by his ferocious determination and a fearlessness that must have played some part in causing the acute back-pain that plagued the last 20 years of his life. After Oxford John trained at the London, now Royal London, Hospital. In 1961, while he was working as a junior Houseman at the London, John took time off to marry Ruth Gibbon, a fellow Oxford graduate. Early in their married life, John and Ruth went off for two years in Uganda, under the auspices of the Ministry of Overseas Development. They
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thoroughly enjoyed their time there. In the second year John was sole doctor in charge of a 60-bedded hospital, carrying out complex surgical operations every day. For the rest it was "nineteenth century medicine with twentieth century drugs," as John described his work in Uganda. It was good that John Wood, his tutorial partner at BNC, was in Uganda at the same time. Returning to England, he went into General Practice in Kent, where he and a colleague set up the GP Training Scheme in Tunbridge Wells. It was inevitable that John would choose Family Medicine as his speciality. He had two generations of GPs behind him in his family, he loved people and believed passionately in continuity of care for them. He saw his role as an enabler helping his patients to understand their illness and cope with it. If he could build a special relationship with them he could give them the best possible care. John was also passionate about keeping sick people at home if possible and, with support from patients, set up an organisation called 'Care Unlimited' in Paddock Wood, which made the national press under the title 'The Village that Cares'. 'Caring Unlimited' was later superseded by the Hospice movement. Close to the 'village that cares', actually in Matfield, John and Ruth created a wonderful home. Their two adopted sons, Dominick and Christopher, were brought up here. "Dad," says Dominick, "was a busy man but was always there for you, ready to listen. Even when he was continually in pain, he retained his love of life, his sense of humour, his inquisitive
