1925-2017
Dr. David Arnold Stinson
1925-2017
Stinson, Dr.
David Arnold, 92, died at
home in Ohio, Antigonish County, surrounded by loved ones, on November
5, 2017.
Born on September 25, 1925, to Marguerite Coles and Arnold
Stinson, in Toronto, Ontario, David led a full
life.
In his youth, he attended University of Toronto Schools, and
spent summers working at the family lumber mill and as a farmhand.
During WWII, David joined the Royal Canadian Navy and served as an
able seaman in the North Atlantic. After the war he attended
medical school at the University of Toronto and graduated with honours
in 1949. He then completed his masters in Biophysics at McGill
University in Montreal, where he met his first wife Anna Cichanowicz.
Returning to Toronto, he specialized in Cardiology and was the chief
of Outpatient and Emergency Department services at the Toronto General
Hospital. During his time in Toronto he was also an Associate
Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Vice President of
the Royal Canadian Institute, President of the University of Toronto
Medical Alumni, and the physician-in-chief of the Runnymede
Hospital.
In 1969, he took an interest in Zen Buddhism, studying under
Suzuki Roshi. Subsequently, he studied Tibetan Buddhism with Choyam
Trumpa Rimpoche and helped to establish the first Dharmadatu in
Toronto. He met his second wife, Janey Humphreys, at a retreat and
they moved to Antigonish, Nova Scotia in 1984. Settling in the Ohio
Valley, he followed his dream of being a farmer- herding goats and
growing vegetables. He started a holistic medical practice
and was a Shambala meditation instructor in Antigonish.
Common threads through David’s life were a love of
people, nature, water, art, and music. His curiosity and passionate
interest in people and their stories made him an astute diagnostician.
The joy he took in meeting new people and forming
friendships made his home a place where all were welcome –
practitioners, artists, friends, animals, foreigners, and neighbours
alike. He was drawn to water, sailing out of the Royal Canadian Yacht
Club, swimming and canoeing at Red Pine (Haliburton, Ontario), and
later, walking the beaches of Nova Scotia. Inspired by nature and his
Buddhist practice, his focus in art changed from landscape sketches
and watercolours, to performance art in the 1970s, and then to a
practice of zen calligraphy. From his childhood singing as a
choir boy at the St. Thomas Anglican Church, he continued delight in
music and embraced the musical tradition of Nova Scotia, playing the
bourdon.
In his later years, he would sit by the fire in his cabin
overlooking the garden, meditate, read, write, listen to music, and
take joy in the people around him. With his passing, we celebrate a
brilliant and caring physician, teacher, father, storyteller, and
World War II veteran.
David is survived by his sister, Mary Watt; his children,
Johanna, Michael, Trevor, Frederick, Julie, and Laura Stinson; his
grandchildren, Jeremy Lee, Jordan Stinson, Laura Stinson, Noah
Cassidy-Stinson, Hannah Bates; his nieces and nephews, Kathy Morrison,
David Stinson, and Peter, John and Robert Watt.
He was predeceased by his brother, Fred Stinson; nephew,
George Stinson; and grandsons, Forest Priestley and Zoe
Cassidy.
David was buried in St.Joseph’s Cemetery,
Antigonish, NS on November 6th, 2017. A Celebration of Life will be
held at St. Joseph’s Lakeside Community Centre on Saturday,
November 11, at 3 pm.
In Memoriam, donations to the Victorian Order of Nurses or
the All of Us Society for Art Presentation (ASAP)
appreciated. Online condolences:
www.clcurry.com
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Dr David Arnold Stinson – 1925-2017.source
Death notice for the town of: Antigonish, Province: Nova Scotia
death notice Dr David Arnold Stinson – 1925-2017- mortuary notice Dr David Arnold Stinson – 1925-2017