Squamish Health Care Foundation Society

Community remembers Dr. Kindree

Dr. LaVerne Kindree

Family members bring personal context to Squamish’s most influential public figure

October 16,2009

Neil Judson njudson@squamishchief.com

More than 400 people spent part of their Thanksgiving weekend celebrating and giving thanks to a man many consider to be Squamish’s most influential person.

Mayor Greg Gardner spoke to the very core of the community’s loss as Dr. LaVerne Kindree’s bright smile was projected on the wall high above friends, family and admirers at the Howe Sound Secondary School gymnasium stage during a public memorial Saturday (Oct. 10).

I have the honour of delivering a eulogy for the person who, in my opinion, has done more for this community than anyone else,he said. That’s quite a statement, but not a very bold one in this case.

Gardner referred to Dr. Kindree, who died after a brief illness Sept. 26 at the age of 88, as the epitome of a leader, and as a man of action and modesty. He was a person who thrived on being proactive and vying for change through sacrifice with support from his wife, Norma.

He was a man who, by the tender age of 31, had successfully lobbied for the creation of the Squamish General Hospital just in time to battle, as the area’s sole physician, an onslaught of polio that touched about 90 per cent of the Squamish community.

I just can’t imagine being in that position, being the only doctor that a whole community was turning to, to lead through those troubling times. But lead, he did,said Gardner.

Squamish Nation council member Dale Harry also spoke of Dr. Kindree, otherwise known to his people as the good doctor. Not only did Dr. Kindree go to great lengths to tend to the Squamish Nation people, he related to them on a personal level as well, said Harry, who pointed out that he is one of about 3,000 people brought into the world by Dr. Kindree’s hands.

As stories of Dr. Kindree’s many accomplishments were mentioned throughout the ceremony his legacy rung clear before all five of his children took turns speaking with emotion and humour, offering rare glimpses into his life beyond the public realm.

Diane Kindree reflected on scouring mountain terrain in white protective jumpsuits collecting ticks with her father while conducting a breakthrough study on Lyme disease. When Dr. Kindree received the Order of Canada in August, he referred to this work with his daughter as the highlight of his career. The pair even coined a motto, said Diane: the family that ticks together, sticks together.

Dad was a wonderful father, a humble man, a wise mentor, a brilliant research buddy, my faithful companion and ultimate superhero, she said through tears.

Youngest son David Kindree recalled the family home in Valleycliffe, which was always full and buzzing with children, foster children, friends and various other characters welcomed into the house for a meal or a visit. He also revealed, with a chuckle, that he just recently discovered his father’s first name is actually Clifford and his middle name is LaVerne.

I don’t understand. He could have been Cliffy, or Cliff, he laughed, adding with a trembling voice, My confession is I never told my dad that I was truly proud of his name. But I’d like to tell him now that I am proud and truly honoured to be David LaVerne Kindree.

A slideshow presentation of old photographs further helped identify Dr. Kindree as a person with artistic passions and an adventurous spirit traits that continue to compel people to settle in Squamish to this day. One photo showed Dr. Kindree engrossed in his violin, another showed him standing contentedly in the alpine overlooking the valley.

Son Paul Kindree finished his address by describing a moving image of his father in his last few moments of life.

On the early morning of September 26, Dr. LaVerne Clifford Kindree turned his head and gazed at the Stawamus Chief and took his last few breaths, he began.

The sun was just beginning to rise and the Chief, in its wreath of clouds, were dancing in brilliant yellows, orange and reds. One of LaVerne’s final thoughts to Norma was that he hoped that he could soar to the mountain top so he could look down and watch over the community of Squamish. LaVerne, we hope your dream came true, because we’d all be truly blessed.

Copyright 2010 Glacier Media Inc.

Link to Chief article

Squamish Mourns Loss of Local Pioneer

Dr. LaVerne Kindree dies at age 88, leaving an unprecedented legacy of community service.

October 2,2009

Neil Judson
njudson@squamishchief.com

One of Squamish’s most influential community members, Dr. LaVerne Kindree, died at the age of 88 in Squamish General Hospital after a brief illness Saturday morning (Sept. 26).

Dr. Kindree leaves behind an inspiring legacy, which was honoured last month when he received the country’s highest civilian medal of distinction and became a member of the Order of Canada.
A true pioneer, Dr. Kindree was instrumental in establishing many of Squamish’s core institutions and organizations, including the Squamish General Hospital, the Squamish Rotary Club and the Squamish Chamber of Commerce.

It’s really hard to separate Dr. Kindree the man, Dr. Kindree the doctor, and Dr. Kindree the Chamber senator because he was really all-encompassing, said Chamber president Margo Dent. He was a man before his time in a lot of ways.

Dr. Kindree, who moved to Squamish with his wife Norma in 1947, was the region’s sole physician for several years, and in the early days, travelled by train and horseback to serve patients in Pemberton and Mount Currie. He was also British Columbia’s longest serving coroner, having worked in that capacity for 42 years.

Dr. Kindree also served as a municipal councillor for 23 years starting in 1955, and as a representative of the Squamish Lillooet Regional District for eight of those years. He led or supported at least a dozen more organizations, including the Squamish Health Care Foundation Society, Community Futures and the West Coast Railway Museum Society.

He’ll be remembered as someone who contributed incredibly to this community over the past 60 years, said Mayor Greg Gardner. He has left his mark on our community in many, many ways.
Well before being named to the Order of Canada, Dr. Kindree received significant recognition and honours. He received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Squamish Nation and became an honourary member in 1999. He was the original recipient of the Order of Squamish, twice named Citizen of the Year and earned the Premiers Award for Community Achievement. He was also given the Certificate of Service Award from the BC Health Association and the Queen’s Jubilee Medal from the House of Commons for outstanding contributions to the community.

A public memorial for Dr. Kindree is being held at Howe Sound Secondary at 11 a.m. on Saturday (Oct. 10). Donations can be made to the Squamish Health Care Foundation for the purchase of a CT scanner, a cause that kept Dr. Kindree actively fundraising over the last few years.

One of his very last wishes was for Squamish to hopefully raise enough money to buy a CT scanner for diagnosis of traumas, said his son Paul Kindree. He thought that was really important for the community, it was the next step to helping everybody in the community.

Copyright 2010 Glacier Media Inc.

Squamish doctor awarded Order of Canada for years of public service

By Gerry Bellett, Vancouver Sun – August 6, 2009

Dr. LaVerne Clifford Kindree has been admitted to the Order of Canada in recognition for more than 50 years of public service in Squamish, which in its length and depth can only be described as astonishing.

The citation for the award gives an indication of what the 87-year-old Kindree has meant to his community:

He was the Squamish region’s sole physician for many years, is the longest-serving coroner in B.C. history, was instrumental in establishing Squamish General Hospital, independently researched the prevalence of Lyme Disease in B.C., was a founding member of the Squamish Chamber of Commerce and was founding chairman of the Squamish Hospital Foundation
The citation skipped a few other things, such as the 23 years he spent on city council and his eight years as a director of Squamish-Lillooet Regional District.

But who’s counting? It’s a career that would have kept three people busy.

It began in 1948 when he and his new wife Norma, a registered nurse, stepped off a Union Steamship ferry to take up residence as the only physician in the Squamish region. Why did he go to a community which in those days had no road or rail access to Vancouver, and a population of about 1,500, dependent on logging?

“Well, they needed a doctor and didn’t have anyone to look after them, and I wanted to make something of myself,” Kindree said Thursday from his home, where he was presented with the award in a private ceremony on Wednesday. “But as well as Squamish, I had to look after the Mount Currie Indian Reserve in Pemberton,” he added.

He and Norma worked as a team. “It was a partnership. She’d deliver babies when I was away in Mount Currie,” he said. The couple would have five children of their own and four foster children.
“One of the first jobs I did here was to get a hospital. There was no hospital when I came, but we opened one in 1952. It had 24 beds and I was the only doctor to look after it. It opened just in time for the polio epidemic,” he said.

That epidemic offered him the opportunity to observe and record how an isolated community was affected by an infectious disease.
“During the epidemic, I’d say 90 per cent of the community were infected with the virus, but only a few developed the disease and we had several pulmonary cases that had to be flown to Vancouver for iron lung treatment,” he said.

In 1988 his daughter Diane, a registered nurse, developed Lyme disease after being bitten by a tick in her West Vancouver garden. At the time, her father believed she had the disease, but other medical experts pooh-poohed the idea that people could get the disease in B.C., he said. This would lead him to a five-year private investigation and, with the help of Dr. Sanyet Banerjee, a microbiologist with the Centre for Vector-Borne Disease at the University of B.C., he proved that there were a number of locations in B.C. where the ticks that produce the disease were present.

Doing the field work with Diane to identify the ticks was the highlight of his career, he said. They would trap mice and examine them for ticks, then examine the ticks to see if they were carrying the pathogens for the disease. “We eventually proved there were 24 sites in B.C. that contained Lyme disease in ticks,” he said.

Today, 61 years after arriving on the coast, the Saskatchewan-born, now-retired physician is still trying to improve things in his community.

“We’re building a long-term-care hospital and we need to get a CT scanner. I’m on the Squamish Hospital Foundation and so far we’ve raised about $2 million for surgical equipment,” he said.
Given the scope of his career, Kindree said he would encourage newly qualified physicians to go into remote communities. “I think they should go to the places that need them,” he said.

Read more.

gbellett@vancouversun.com
Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun