Dr. Helen Roque Guzman

Dr. Helen R. Guzman passed away at St. Boniface Hospital on Saturday, December 20, 2025, at the age of 91 years.

We are heartbroken to share the sad news of the passing of Dr. Helen R. Guzman, after a brief illness, surrounded by her loved ones, on December 20, 2025, at the age of 91 years. As Mom, Lola (Tagalog for Grandma), Tita (Auntie), or simply Helen, she is profoundly missed, lovingly remembered, and survived by her son, Dr. Robert Guzman Santos, her dear daughter-in-law Kimberly, and her precious apo (grandchildren), Ginny and Josie, alongside her extended family and lifelong friends and neighbours living in Winnipeg over nearly six decades, who all brought her peace of mind, camaraderie, laughter and joy, including pamangkin (nephew and niece) Paul Santos and Mary Ellen Santos de Leon, and matalik na kaibigan (best friends), including Marina and Abe Guerrero, Dr. Amor Hunter, and their families, among many others in the city and across Canada and the U.S., including the other “Aunties Upteers” during preschool days on Broadway Avenue, Sherbrook Street, and Woodrow Place, as well as all of Rob’s friends and their families growing up in Riverview and through his adult years, including Kim’s family and friends, across Canada.

Helen was always delighted when someone would enjoy her cooking, particularly her Filipino dishes and specialities, fresh from the oven or hot off the stovetop, the more the better. Surprisingly fiercely competitive when playing Scrabble, she regularly bested all opponents, save one, her one and only anak (child) with his frustratingly slightly larger vocabulary, long games won by only the closest of margins, about which she remained undaunted. Helen also had a “green thumb” in caring for her voluminous halaman (plants) which ever grew and flourished in the bright sunlight of her being. Affectionately known as “ka Ellen” in both the Guzman family and the Santos family, she is survived by her last living sibling, her darling sister, Julieta “Baby” Guzman Gonzales in the Philippines, and sisters- and brother-in-law Narcisa Santos, Rebecca Santos, Ruel and Dina Santos, and their families, in Canada.

Helen was predeceased by her parents, Maria Roque Guzman and Roberto J. Guzman, of Malolos, Bulacan, Philippines; and 10 of her sisters and brothers, Felipa “Kaka” Guzman Eleco, Lolita “Loli” Guzman Mabanta, Gloria Guzman Ocampo, Marcial Guzman, Rosauro “Roro” Guzman, Nita Guzman delos Santos, Roberto “Ertol” Guzman, Ceferina “Ninay” Guzman Abubakar, Manuel “Boy” Guzman, and Mario Guzman (who was stillborn), and is survived by their families, all part of the monumental angkan ng Guzman (clan) spread across the Philippines and the U.S., all of whom she never stopped loving, thinking about, helping, and praying for, over nine decades. Her heart was never far from “back home.” Helen was also predeceased by Rob’s Dad, Dr. Conrado “Rading” Santos, and his other siblings who also helped raise her beloved “Tato” during his most formative years of summer in 1970s and 80s Winnipeg, Calgary, and Edmonton: brothers- and sisters-in-law Dr. Benjamin and Luz Santos, Leticia Santos and Miguel de Leon, and Virgilio Santos, along with other dear friends now passed, to whom she was forever grateful, and is survived by their families, also spread across Canada, but still as close as those early days of yesteryear, cousins playing outside until after sunset, and loved ones having picnics at the beach and in the park. We all love you forever and will miss your boundless kindness, strength of spirit, and gentleness of soul. May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Funeral services and a celebration of Helen’s life will take place on Saturday, April 4, 2026, at 2:00pm (which in the Philippines time zone will be her birthday, April 5th, as well as Easter Sunday, one of her most cherished holidays) at Thomson “In the Park” Funeral Home, 1291 McGillivray Boulevard, Winnipeg, MB, 204-925-1120. Interment will take place there at a later date.

Helen’s family and friends would like to thank the staff of Health Sciences Centre, Deer Lodge Centre, the Saul & Claribel Simkin Centre, Riverview Health Centre, and St. Boniface Hospital for their help and support over the past five years, particularly during the pandemic, and especially in her final weeks of life.

Donations in Helen’s memory may be made to the Riverview Health Centre Foundation https://rhcf.mb.ca/ways-to-give/give-now/, including to honour her decades of caring service as a physician at Riverview (when it was the Winnipeg Municipal Hospitals). Background: In 1959, Helen was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines, and passed the Philippine Board of Medical Examination. After years of practice, including at one of the world’s best hospitals, the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Centre, she immigrated in 1966 to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, where she completed a Senior Rotating Medical Internship at the Misericordia General Hospital in 1967, served as a Junior Resident Physician in the Department of Radiology at St. Boniface Hospital until 1968, when she began her long tenure as a Hospital Physician at the Winnipeg Municipal Hospitals, primarily at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital, including palliative and oncology care, where she developed a reputation for tremendous warmth, empathy, and compassion for patients and colleagues alike, as well as what would become lifelong friendships with fellow physicians, nurses, other health care professionals, and their families and friends. She was proud to receive her Certificate of Canadian Citizenship in 1974. She continues to be remembered as a gifted listener and healer by those she worked with, decades after her retirement from medical practice in the late 1980s.

As published in the Winnipeg Free Press, on Saturday, March 21, 2026