COMASSAR o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-12 published
APPLEBY,
Sarah
Love is not changed by death. Died peacefully at her home on
April 10, 2003 in her 81st year after a valiant battle with cancer.
Cherished wife for 54 years to the late Harry
APPLEBY. Dear mother
to Laurence and Lynda
WENGER and mother-in-law to Marvin
WENGER.
Devoted and greatly loved grandmother to Meredith
WENGER.
Caring
daughter to the late Isadore and Yetta
GRYMEK. Survived by her
brothers Lou and Sam
GRYMEK and her sisters Ann
COMASSAR and
Shirley KREM. A wonderful mother has gone, leaving her children
to remember her strong presence, graciousness and courage. For
the love and happiness we shared we are truly thankful. The family
acknowledges with thanks, the efforts of Dr. Joan
MURPHY, the
other doctors, nurses and support staff of the Princess Margaret
Hospital.
Also the caring attention of Dr. Russell
GOLDMAN and
Teresita MADRID. At
Benjamin's
Park
Memorial Chapel, 2401 Steeles
Avenue West (1 light west of Dufferin) for service on Sunday,
April 13th at 3: 00 p.m. Interment Beth Tzedec Memorial Park.
Shiva at 342 Spadina Road, Suite 303, Toronto, concluding Tuesday
evening April 15. If desired, memorial donations may be made
to the Princess Margaret Foundation, 610 University Avenue, Toronto
M5G 2M9 (416) 946-6560.
C... Names CO... Names COM... Names Welcome Home
COMASSAR - All Categories in OGSPI
COMENDADOR o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-09-05 published
A life cut short by severe acute respiratory syndrome
The only doctor to have died from the virus in North America,
he was a caring professional and a loving family man
By Bill GLADSTONE
Special to The Globe and Mail Friday, September
5, 2003 - Page R13
As the only doctor in North America to die of severe acute respiratory
syndrome, Toronto physician Nestor
YANGA may have gained more
prominence in death than by anything he had accomplished in life.
He was a dedicated general practitioner, church volunteer and
family man who was passionate about everything he did, according
to Friends. A former president of the Canadian Filipino Medical
Association, he loved dancing, gardening and spending time with
his wife and two sons.
In the early days of the city's outbreak of severe acute respiratory
syndrome, as doctors were still scrambling to identify and contain
the alarming new disease, a patient turned up at Dr.
YANGA's
east-Toronto clinic who was a family member of one of the first
carriers in Canada; two more family members came to see him two
days later. In medical parlance, all would be known as "super-secretors"
for the highly virulent and infectious strains they carried.
"He saw them in the waiting room and told them they'd better
go to the hospital," said his friend, Dr. Bina
COMENDADOR, a
Richmond Hill, Ontario, psychiatrist.
Shortly afterwards Dr.
YANGA came down with a slight fever, then
a dry cough. When the symptoms worsened, he visited a newly instituted
screening centre for severe acute respiratory syndrome and was
told to get to Sunnybrook Hospital right away. "Being the doctor
he was, he drove himself to the hospital and he never came out,"
Dr. COMENDADOR said.
He died after a four-month struggle with the disease on August
13 at the age of 54. He was the 44th severe acute respiratory
syndrome victim in the Toronto area.
An estimated 2,000 people, including many provincial dignitaries,
medical professionals and members of the city's Filipino community,
paid their last respects to Dr.
YANGA at a funeral in Toronto's
St. Michael's Cathedral. In eulogies, he was depicted as a hero
who had fallen on the front lines of medicine's unrelenting battle
against illness of every kind.
"He contracted the disease while caring for one of his patients,"
said Dr. Larry
ERLICK, president of the Ontario Medical Association.
"It's a risk that physicians face every day."
As if to underscore that risk, two of the three doctors who worked
with Dr. YANGA in the Lapsley Family Doctors Clinic were also
infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome last April; one
remains hospitalized while the other is still too weak to resume
his medical duties; the fourth recently reopened the clinic and
is struggling with a fourfold increase in patient load. As well,
two nurses in the Toronto area have died of the virus after caring
for severe acute respiratory syndrome-stricken patients.
Born in Malabon, the Philipines, on October 8, 1948, Nestor
YANGA
studied medicine at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila
he specialized in surgery and graduated in 1975. He emigrated
to Canada in 1981 and was married the same year in Toronto, having
met his prospective bride, Remy, during a visit two years earlier.
Passing a rigorous set of medical exams in Canada, Dr.
YANGA
interned at a Newfoundland hospital for two months, then at two
hospitals in Toronto. Intending to become a psychiatrist, he
studied at McMaster University and at the University of Toronto,
but withdrew in his third year, telling Friends he preferred
to practise family medicine.
Toronto psychiatrist Dr. Dulce
BISMONTE recalled that Dr.
YANGA
had inspired her to enter psychiatry and that she was very saddened
when he told her he was leaving that field. "He was so compassionate
and caring, he would have made an excellent psychiatrist," she
said.
As a general practitioner, Dr.
YANGA got to know many of his
patients as people and often spent more time with them than strictly
necessary, to the occasional consternation of patients in his
waiting room. Any annoyance would invariably melt away, however,
as the meticulous but easygoing doctor would bestow a similar
level of care and warmth upon each waiting patient in turn.
"He was the kind of person you could respect and really care
about, and I think his patients felt that too," Dr.
COMENDADOR
said. "He would make you feel that you were special and that
you were the most important patient."
Dr. YANGA sometimes assisted with surgeries at Centenary Hospital
and worked as a volunteer at the sexual assault clinic at Grace
Hospital. He and his wife were also dedicated members of the
Filipino-dominated charismatic Catholic group Bukas Loob Sa Diyos.
Having performed in his youth with a dance group, which toured
all over Southeast Asia, Dr.
YANGA retained a passion for ballroom
dancing, which he did with his wife, and line dancing, which
he did apart from her, with others. "Nestor loved to dance,"
Dr. BISMONTE observed. "He might have been on the chubby side,
but he was a very graceful dancer."
He was, above all, a consummate family man who always reserved
plenty of time to be with his family and usually took them with
him to medical conferences at resorts. "His loss is a tragedy
to his family as well as to all of his patients, and I don't
know how we're going to overcome it," Dr.
ERLICK said. "He had
a huge following and it's hard to replace a physician like that."
Nestor YANGA leaves his wife
Remy, sons Nelson, 20, and Ronald,
16, brother Emmanuel and father Lauro, all of Toronto.
C... Names CO... Names COM... Names Welcome Home
COMENDADOR - All Categories in OGSPI
COMERFORD o@ca.on.manitoulin.howland.little_current.manitoulin_expositor 2003-07-23 published
Dorothy Jean
SMITH
It is with great sadness that the family announces the death of
Dorothy Jean
SMITH (née
McLAUGHIN) age 67 of Saskatoon, which
occurred on July 6, 2003. A private graveside service was held at
Woodlawn Cemetery in Saskatoon on July 11, conducted by the Rev.
Henry COMERFORD with only family members in attendance in accordance
with Dorothy's wishes. Arrangements were entrusted to Saskatoon Funeral Home.
Surviving are her loving husband Frederick, daughter Kim
SMITH-
CHAMBERLAIN
(David) of Herefordshire, England,
son of Terry of
Martensville,
Saskatchewan, sister Roberta
McMULLEN
(Doug) of Sudbury,
brother Hugh
McLAUGHLIN
(Mollyanne) of Gore Bay, numerous nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles.
Dorothy was predeceased by her father Wm. Burt
McLAUGHLIN in 1956 and her mother Laura
McLAUGHLIN in 1989.
Dorothy was born in Manitowaning, on September 19th, 1935 where she
grew up and completed her education at the Continuation School.
She graduated from Ottawa Civic Hospital School of Nursing in 1957 and
was a life member of the alumnae. She did private duty nursing in
Ottawa and obstetrical nursing at the Sudbury General Hospital.
She served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a Nursing Sister with the rank of Flying Officer.
She married Fred
SMITH on September 9, 1961 at St. George's Anglican Church, Saskatoon.
Dorothy enjoyed the arts and entertainment and was a huge "movie buff."
She loved gardening, music and nature and was employed in the family business
until the business was sold in 2001. She was also gifted with a remarkable
decorating flare which was demonstrated during all the festive seasons.
Dorothy was always active in her family's lives, a devoted wife,
mother and friend and will be very sadly missed by all.
C... Names CO... Names COM... Names Welcome Home
COMERFORD - All Categories in OGSPI