the passing of Bob Coles at the age of 93.
Bob was born in London, England in 1926, the
youngest of three boys born to Ted and Jen Coles.
He attended Hendon County Grammar School
until May 1944 when he enlisted in the army at age
17. Assigned to Special Communications Unit No. 3
Royal Signals, he served as a radio operator at the
Montreathmont Radio Station near Forfar, Scotland,
intercepting and recording enemy communications
which were then sent to Bletchley Park to be decoded.
After he was demobilized, Bob studied to be a
hospital administrator with the newly formed
National Health Service. With the exception of a
brief period of employment with the National Union
of Journalists, hospital administration was to
become his career. His first job was at East
Dulwich Hospital in South London. In 1960 he
accepted a position in Kenya as the Hospital
Secretary at Nyeri in the Central Highlands. After
two years in Nyeri he was transferred to Nairobi
where he taught at the Medical Training Centre.
In 1963 he moved to Hong Kong to assume the
position of Hospital Secretary at the newly
constructed Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon.
He spent the next 25 years with the Medical and
Health Department, rising to the position of
Principal Hospital Secretary. After retirement in
1986, he spent another six years in Hong Kong as
Senior Hospital Administrator with the Caritas
Medical Centre.
It was in Hong Kong that Bob met Jane. They
married in Vancouver in 1973 and twenty years
later decided to retire there. They led an active and
happy retirement in North Vancouver until the last
few years when Bob’s health began to deteriorate
and his mobility became increasingly restricted. In
2017 they moved into Amica Retirement Home in
Edgemont Village. The family would like to thank
the staff of Amica for their loving care.
Bob is survived by his wife Jane, his children, Peter
and Helena, and his grandchildren, Bella and
George. He was a kind and humble man who will
be missed by all who knew him.
A private funeral mass will be held on June 30th at
11:00 am at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church,
599 Keith Road, West Vancouver, BC.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Christ
the Redeemer Catholic Church.
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