DR. NORMAN PAUL MERKELEY

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DR. NORMAN PAUL MERKELEY Passed away serenely at Victoria General Hospital on November 23, 2006, at the age of 88 years. Dr. Merkeley is survived by his three children, Paul (Lynne) and their three daughters Hayley, Carley and Kelsey of Cranbrook, BC, Susan and her three children Christine (Derek and son Declan), Sammy and Natalie of Vancouver, Peter (Bonita) and their four children Tanner, Quinn (Sari), Teale and Fia of Winnipeg; brother don (Vivian) of Idaho; and sister Lois Youngson (Gord) of Bowen Island. Norm's wife Nan died in Cranbrook in 2003. All ten grandchildren and one great- grandson (Declan) will fondly remember their Grampa with some already following in his footsteps by currently practicing Medicine or laying the groundwork to do so. Norm graduated from Medicine at the University of Manitoba in 1939 and completed his post graduate surgical training at the Winnipeg General Hospital in 1942. He proudly served in the Second World War as a surgeon on the front lines and has since gone many times to D-Day commemorative events in France, Belgium and Holland. After the war Norm was in private surgical practice at the Medical Arts Building in Winnipeg until 1968 when he moved to Salt Spring Island. In 1983 he bought an orchard and moved to Creston, BC and then returned to Manitoba in 1996. Norm was an avid sportsman and in the 1960's was a founding member of PASSWA, an association of men passionate about hunting an fishing, who still get together annually for a celebratory dinner. He led an adventurous life, thoroughly enjoying surgery at it's most basic, doing volunteer medical missions for 30 years in many different countries including Malaysia, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Jordan, Afghanistan and Nepal. Norm will be remembered as a man of few words who always stood up for his principles and had both the desire and ability to change the lives of many, particularly the impoverished and unfortunate, through his exceptional gift and ingenious artistry and skill in the realm of plastic surgery. There will be a celebration of his long and eventful life on Thursday, November 30, at 11:00 a.m. at Church of the Rock, 1397 Buffalo Place, Winnipeg.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Nov 28, 2006