Dentist, community activist.
Born at Winnipeg on 1 June in 1923, son of Kermit Newton Routley (?-?) and Mary Eileen Finlan (1901-1975), he graduated from St. Paul's High School in 1940 then took two years of pre-medical training at the University of Manitoba before serving in the Royal Canadian Navy (1942-1945). Returning from military duty, he attended the Dental School at the University of Toronto and graduated in 1950. He returned to Winnipeg where he was a dentist for 38 years.
Active in the community, he was a Liberal candidate in the 1958 and 1959 provincial general elections and also in city elections. He served as the Chairman on the Boards of Roslyn House, South Fort Rouge Business Association, Sisters of Service, and the Civic Charities Endorsement Committee of the City of Winnipeg. He was also the Past President of the Sierra Club and the Red River Exhibition (1969-70) and Past President of Leisurewood Park in Wesalaco, Texas. He was a Past Grand Knight of 1107 Knights of Columbus Winnipeg and a past board member of the Misericordia Hospital Foundation, as well as a founding member and Director of the Brotherhood of Christians and Jews. He served as President of the Red River Exhibition Association (1968-1970).
In February 1950, he married nurse Beverley Smith (1926-2024) and they had six children. After his retirement in 1987, he spent fifteen summers in Mexico, where he helped to establish Mabel’s Free Clinic, which is now a dental, medical and optical clinic serving thousands of poor Mexicans. He was the recipient of the numerous awards, including a Community Service Award from the City of Winnipeg, Random Act of Kindness Award (1996), Celebrate Canada ‘People Who Make A Difference’ (1999), and ‘Honor a Quien Honor Merece’ from the Government in Tampico, Mexico.
He died at Winnipeg on 4 January 2009.
Birth registration [Keith Newton Routly], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Dr. Keith Routley,” Winnipeg Free Press, 31 October 1968, page 37.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 7 January 2009.
Obituary [Beverley Routley], Winnipeg Free Press, 10 August 2024.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Kris Keen and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 1 September 2024
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