Dr. John Dougan

On Thursday July 2, 2009, Dr. John McDonald Dougan died peacefully at his home in Acton, surrounded by his family, and with Joy, his wife of 68 years, holding his hand. John’s passing marks the end of 130 years of a proud family tradition of being called to service through medical practice, dating back to his grandfather in Northern Ireland and continuing with his father, uncle and both his brothers (Hampton and George). John (Donald) was born in 1917 in Portadown, Co. Armagh and educated at Campbell College, Belfast and Trinity College, University of Dublin (M.A., M.B., B.Ch.), graduating in 1938. He was a keen member of the Dublin University Boat Club, winning championships in 1937 and 1938 and twice rowing at Henley Regatta in the Lady’s Plate. A veteran of World War II with the Royal Army Medical Corps, John went overseas with the Ninth Queens Royal Lancers and served extensively throughout Europe and the Middle East. He was awarded the Military Cross for rescuing wounded men in the Saunnu Battle (23 Jan 1942) and was seriously wounded at the Battle of Knightsbridge.

Dr. Dougan emigrated to Canada with his wife Joy in 1948 and settled in Winnipeg, where he set up general practice in Charleswood. He later returned to England to study psychiatry, and took up psychiatric residency at St. John’s Hospital, Aylesbury. In 1964 he came back to Winnipeg where was a consultant psychiatrist at the Manitoba Clinic and lecturer at the University of Manitoba until 1970. Dr. Dougan moved to Guelph to become Director of the Community Mental Health Clinic in Guelph, and organized expansion to mental health clinics in Orangeville/Dufferin. In 1971 he founded Stonehenge Therapeutic Community in Guelph. In 1972 he was elected to Foundation Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and was a member of the Psychiatric Review Board of Ontario. Dr. Dougan was a Life Member of the Big Sisters Association of Guelph, a recipient of the Sertoma Club of Guelph Service to Mankind Award, and of the Paul Harris Fellowship, Rotary Club of Guelph. In 1986, realizing that there was a shortage of psychiatric help in Acton, John postponed his retirement to become a consultant psychiatrist with the North Halton Mental Health Clinic. His greatest wish was to continue serving his patients as long as he could, and this he did, up until the week before he died.

For all his accomplishments, Dr. Dougan was essentially a very humble man; despite his courage, he was above all gentle. He will be remembered by his family and friends for his integrity, generosity and kindness. He regarded his medical training as a calling and an honor, and was known (for example) to quietly pay for prescriptions that his patients might not be able to afford. He had an education in the classics, kept a classical Greek dictionary by his bed for impromptu translations, played saxophone in a band in Dublin in the 1930s, cut his medical teeth at VD clinics in the Dublin slums, dated one of the Flying Wallendas before marrying his beloved Joy, roller-bladed with his granddaughter in his 80’s, and throughout his lifetime quietly crossed paths with luminaries such as Louis Armstrong and Noel Coward.

Dr. Dougan was much loved by his wife Joy, his daughter Jane, son-in-law Peter (Johnston), granddaughter Emma (Kitchen), nieces Nola (Lesser), Sharon (Grattan), Karina (Kane), Edwina (Hylton), Amanda (Rowlandson), Jill (Sutton), Judy (Hunt), friend Christopher Radford, and extended family in Canada, England, Ireland and Spain.

There will be a funeral service at St. Alban’s Anglican Church, 19 St. Alban’s Drive, Acton, Ontario on Friday July 10th at two o’clock. The family will receive friends at St. Alban’s Church from one o’clock.

Donations, if desired, may be made payable to Summit Housing and Outreach Program, PO Box 5, Acton, Ontario L7J 2M2 to the attention of the Acton Patients’ Christmas Party. For more information, please see http://jmd-memory.tumblr.com. Online condolences and donations may be made at www.mackinnonfamilyfuneralhome.com