Lawrence Sydney Arthur Boothroyd

Boots died peacefully in early December, after suffering a stroke. He was surrounded by his family, and received excellent care from the nurses and doctors at Lions Gate Hospital. Born in Harrogate, Yorks., Boots grew up in Calcutta, before being sent at age 8 to boarding schools in England. An excellent athlete, he went on to study medicine at St. Thomas' Hospital, London, where, during night raids in the war-time Blitz, he was posted to rooftop fire-duty. He returned to India as a conscript with the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1945, where he learned to fly a Tiger Moth.

He qualified as a surgeon in 1949 and in 1951 met Dr. Margot Findlay, graduate of The Royal Free Hospital. Married in 1953, they emigrated to West Vancouver in 1955, where they raised four children. Boots worked as a general surgeon at Lions Gate Hospital and, later, family practitioner, until 1990. He answered house calls until the end of his career and often asked his patients for their “life stories”. He also volunteered overseas, training medical staff in basic surgical techniques in small hospitals in the West Indies and Africa. Passionate about education, he served on the West Van School Board and co-founded the West Van Girls Field Hockey Club, at a time when girls had little access to team sports.

Boots also loved to sing, dance and dress up. To allow for this, he organized New Year's Fancy Dress Balls at the West Van Community Centre and, with friends, directed musical revues at the West Van United Church. He also led his family on adventures: e.g., panning for gold in the Chilcotins, and a thousand-mile cycle-ride from John O’Groats, the top of Scotland, to Land’s End, England. In his retirement, Boots wrote a memoir, dug in his garden, sang in choirs, supported the protection of African gorillas and continued to ride his ten-speed, without a helmet. In his early 80s, he competed with his daughters in a bike relay over the Yukon’s Chilkat pass. Exuberant, gregarious, and a lover of (off-colour) jokes, he enjoyed nothing more than sharing a cuppa-char or "drinks on deck" with his many friends.

In his final years, he suffered dementia, but enjoyed basking in his chair and singing with his grandchildren. A week before he died, he was still doing cryptic crosswords.

He is survived by Margot; his children Wendy (Ken), Gillian (Keith), Jim (Vicky) and Sa (Jody); his grandchildren Malkolm, Sydney, Alex, Fin, Lucy, Gavin and Pippa; and nieces in England Janet and Sally.

A celebration of Boots’ life will be held at 2pm, Jan. 19, 2015 at the West Vancouver United Church, 2062 Esquimalt Ave. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada, c/o University of Toronto Mailroom, 563 Spadina Crescent

Toronto, ON M5S 2J7; www.janegoodall.ca

Hollyburn Funeral Home 604-922-1221

www.hollyburnfunerals.com