Donald A Shirley

Donald Audley Shirley was born to Donald and Doris Shirley in Falmouth, Jamaica on September 23, 1944 immediately following a hurricane sweeping over the island. Donald grew up in Trelawny, Jamaica and was the firstborn of four children. Later his siblings, Joan, Robert and Elizabeth joined the family.

He attended Cornwall College boarding school during his youth and later graduated from medical school at the University of the West Indies, and ultimately pursued further training to become a general surgeon. He continued his medical studies on the Canadian west coast, at the University of British Columbia.

Donald loved photography and used his dormitory closet as a darkroom for developing photos. He also obtained his amateur radio license and learned morse code. He enjoyed the outdoors and took advantage of the all the camping and fishing the west coast had to offer whenever he had time to spare.

During a rotation through the Vancouver General Hospital pathology department in the 70’s, he met Janet, the love of his life, and the rest is history! They relocated to Trail, BC for what was supposed to be a 3-month locum position; however, Janet and Donald stayed 3 years. They made many lifelong connections, and in the summer of 1979, they got married under a cherry tree in Trail surrounded by close friends. Donald was later offered a permanent surgical position at Langley Memorial Hospital and remained there for over 35 years until his retirement in 2019. During Donald and Janet’s time in Langley, their family began to grow. They had a house full of cats, a yellow lab, and three children, Alwena, Richard and Jessica.

Donald was known for his gentleness and soft-spoken nature. He was a loving father with strong family values and he always made time for family vacations, homework help, scientific discussions, good jokes, and dancing to his favourite tunes.

Whenever the family would go out, they would inevitably bump into someone whose life had been touched by Donald as he had cared for other people most of his life. At the end, it was his turn to be cared for and he was well attended to by nurses and family, and even enjoyed his favourite Jamaican tunes in his last days.

Contributions in Donald's memory may be made to Critter Care Wildlife Society, 481 – 216th Street, Langley, British Columbia V2Z 1R6 CA, https://www.crittercarewildlife.org/donate#Donate.