Surgeon, skater.
Born at Boise, Idaho on 14 May 1916, son of Lucy and Dana Parkinson, he attended Dartmouth College where he was a member of the ski team and wrote a book on competitive figure skating, graduating in 1938. He then attended McGill University in Montreal, obtaining a medical degree in 1941. In 1942, he married Elizabeth Gaunt and they eventually had four children.
During the Second World War, he was Battalion Surgeon with the 104th Division in France, Belgium, and Holland. He rose to the rank of Captain and was awarded two bronze stars. He completed his surgical residency at Mary Hitchcock Hospital in Hanover, New Hampshire in 1946 and his neurosurgical residency at the Mayo Clinic at Rochester, Minnesota from 1946 to 1949.
He moved to Winnipeg in early 1950 and was the province’s only neurosurgeon for many years. He was appointed Chief of Neurosurgery at the Health Sciences Centre and also held this position in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba from 1957 until 1981. In addition to being the First President of the Canadian Neurosurgical Society, he was President for the Knowles School for Boys, Police and Pal, Winnipeg Medical Society, Winnipeg Medical Historical Society, Rehabilitation Hospital Staff, St. Charles Country Club (1968-1969), Manitoba Golf Association, Canadian Society of Neurological Surgeons, and American College of Surgeons (Manitoba Chapter). He was a Governor for the Royal Canadian Golf Association and a judge for international figure skating from 1955 to 1969.
He died at the Grace Hospital on 1 February 2005.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 3 February 2005.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 2 January 2024
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