Dr. Alan Rich, who served longer than any other doctor in Thompson, has passed away

Thompson’s best-loved doctor has passed away.

The legendary, and at times controversial, Dr. Alan Rich, who still holds the record as Thompson’s longest-serving physician, having practiced medicine here for more than 40 years, died earlier today.

Dr. Rich, who died in Swan River, was 73. There will be visitation at the Boardman/Northland Funeral Home at 28 Nelson Rd. here in Thompson, Manitoba next Sunday evening on Jan. 27 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The funeral service will follow next Monday morning at 10 a.m. on Jan. 28 at St. Lawrence Roman Catholic Church at 114 Cree Rd. in Thompson. Internment will be at Thompson Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Dr. Rich’s memory to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Canada, a registered charity founded in 1983, which helps children with critical and life-threatening illnesses live out their biggest wishes. The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Canada granted 615 wishes to Canadian children with life-threatening illnesses in 2017, spending an average of $13,268 per wish granted. Their charitable registration number is 89526 9173 RR0001 and their address is Make-A-Wish Foundation of Canada, 4211 Yonge St.,  Suite 520, Toronto, Ontario, M2P 2A9. Their website can be found at http://www.makeawish.ca

Sent packing from Thompson General Hospital into retirement in 2011 after a high-profile dispute with two other doctors on the old Burntwood Regional Health Authority (BRHA) medical staff, just three years later he was presented with the Key to the City of Thompson on Oct. 6, 2014, the city’s highest and infrequently bestowed honour, by then Mayor Tim Johnston and then Coun. Stella Locker, a registered nurse, who was council’s longest-serving member at the time. Dr. Rich had moved to Swan River a number of years ago.

“Al, from me to you, I want to say thank you for your commitment, thank you for your dedication, and I am happy to say that no one has played more of an important role in the health care of Thompsonites, and Northerners, than Dr. Alan Rich. You are to be thanked for the commitment you made,” the mayor said at the awards ceremony at city hall in 2014.

Even after his departure from Thompson General Hospital, Dr. Rich continued to practice medicine for quite a while from both from his office in the Professional Building on Selkirk Avenue, where he had been a long-time tenant of J.B. Johnston Ventures Limited, Tim Johnston’s family property holding company, and in his new home in Swan River, where Prairie Mountain Health (PMH) granted him hospital privileges at Swan River Valley Hospital. Born and raised in Thompson, Tim Johnston, of course, is the son of Dr. Blain Johnston, a former city councillor who was the first regular, full-time doctor in Thompson.

Dr. Rich graduated from the University of Saskatchewan as a doctor of medicine on May 13, 1971. He started practicing medicine in Thompson the following year, after completing his residency internship at Queen Elizabeth Hospital of Montreal in June 1972. Over the course of his long medical career, Rich worked as a general practitioner, worked in CancerCare, was an anesthetist, oversaw dialysis, and worked as a medical examiner. Dr. Rich had originally arrived in Thompson from Saskatchewan as a summer student to work underground at Inco. He hoped to make enough money working in the mines during summers to put himself through medical school, which he did. In Saskatchewan, Dr. Rich as a young man, had worked on the Herriman family farm in Creelman, southeast of Regina. He returned to Thompson to open up his practice after graduating. Dr. Rich was also a high-calibre judo competitor, coaching and training judo practitioners, as well as serving as team physician for the Thompson Hawks, a senior amateur men’s hockey team. Their best season was in 1974-75 when they won the Edmonton Journal Trophy (Western Canada Intermediate Championship) but lost in the Hardy Cup Championship (Canadian Intermediate A Championship) that season to the Moncton Bears, the Eastern Canada champions.

On April 9, 2013, he was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, created to mark the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty’s accession to the throne, by Swan River Mayor Glen McKenzie.  “It was a surprise,” Twyla Machan, editor of the local Swan Valley Star & Times, quoted Rich as saying in receiving the award. “In Thompson, I was on the wrong side of political decisions, but I am a doctor with no limitations.” Discussing his move to Swan River where he set up a practice, Rich told the Star & Times he was enjoying it there. “It’s a lot of fun. This is a very good place. I retired here, and I will spend the rest of my days here I think.”

Dr. Rich always provoked strong feelings among Thompson residents, many of whom he delivered. He was legendary for making house calls or dropping by unannounced after an 18 or 20-hour day at the hospital and his office because he was concerned how a patient was doing and wanted to check in on them. He had a knack for identifying what was ailing someone when other doctors may not have been able to put their finger on the problem so quickly, as his many loyal patients attested to  over the years. He may have even saved the odd cherished pet along the way, but there is no official record of such.

While some found the bearded Dr. Rich, clad in his leather motorcycle jacket and jeans, which he was attired in when he picked up the Key to the City of Thompson in 2014, a tad brusque in his bedside manner, folks in this hardrock nickel mining town generally liked his no-BS plain-speaking ways.  Besides, his YellowPages ad did say he was “friendly, courteous and understanding.” If he had his eccentricities, don’t we all? Live and let live is a way of life in the North.

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Local baseball legend Red Sangster given Key to the City of Thompson on 90th birthday

1968-69 Manitoba champion Thompson Reds. Back row left to right: Red Sangster (manager), Vern Bentley, Keith Redman, Earl Hodges, Doug Bentley, Forbes Stewart, George Goghill, Barry MacLean, Steve Sobko, Dale McDougall, Ross Papineau (president). Front: Bernie McLellan, Marcel Champagne, John Stewart, Russell Zushman, Jerry Holmstrom, Ken Hanke, Jack Sangster and Alex “Suds” Sutherland – Photo courtesy of Jack Sangster and Canadian Baseball Network

For the second time in 10 days, the City of Thompson has presented a Key to the City, the city’s highest and usually infrequently bestowed honour,  this time giving it to the legendary local baseball promoter Alexander “Red” Sangster on the occasion of his 90th birthday Oct. 15.

Dr. Alan Rich, the city’s longest-serving physician, who now lives in Swan River and practices there and here part-time,  was presented with the Key to the City of Thompson Oct. 6 (https://soundingsjohnbarker.wordpress.com/2014/10/06/dr-alan-rich-the-citys-longest-serving-physician-sent-packing-into-retirement-in-2011-presented-with-the-key-to-the-city-of-thompson/)

The honour was again presented by Mayor Tim Johnston, in his final nine days as mayor after eight years in office, on behalf of the City of Thompson. A Key to the City hon ours those who have made major contributions to the community and its surroundings over an extensive period of time. Johnston was joined in the presentation to Sangster by deputy mayor Dennis  Fenske, Coun. Stella Locker, the longest-serving member of council, and city manager Gary Ceppetelli.

Sangster’s named is so synonymous with baseball in Thompson, the Red Sangster Ball Field, constructed in 1968, was named after him in 1992. The ballpark was built mostly by hand and required clearing trees that were then used to make a fence for the Thompson Zoo, which Sangster had paired up with Hawley Duncan and Len Fenske to start.

Engraved on Sangster’s Key to the City of Thompson are the words,  “In recognition of your outstanding commitment and dedication to the advancement of Recreation and Sport in the City of Thompson.”

In an official Oct. 16 news release announcing the honour, the City of Thompson noted, “It is said that many of the City of Thompson’s early employees were recruits of Red’s not only for their professional skills, but also for their athletic abilities.” Unofficially, it might well be said that “Red’s Ringers” were the stuff of local, indeed provincial, sports legend in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Born in 1924 on a farm near Walkerburn, Sangster, told started playing baseball when he was 15. He first came to Northern Manitoba by way of Snow Lake and later Thompson in 1960 as an employee of Paddy Harrison, working as a mechanic underground at the Moak Lake site. He returned to Thompson in 1961 when Inco began production, and worked as a mechanic at the mill for six months. Soon after, he would begin working the Local Government District of Mystery Lake as a grader operator, grading roads in the summer and plowing snow in the winter. He did that for 18 years.

Sangster  wore many work hats over the years. As well as being appointed as director of recreation for the Town of Thompson in October 1968,  he also had a long tenure, extending to recent years, first with Carling O’Keefe Breweries, and later with  Molson Canada, as their representative in Northern Manitoba.

He was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997, while the Thompson Reds, also named for Sangster, from the period between 1968 and 1973 were inducted in the special team category in 2003.

Baseball, however, has not been Sangster’s only local sports interest. As far back as 1968, Sangster, who managed the Thompson Midget Aces, was named Minor Hockey Volunteer of the year by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. He was also helped guide the Thompson Hawks, a men’s senior amateur team, coached by Terry Grindle for the 1972-73 season, which played in the Canadian Central Hockey League (CCHL) from 1972 to 1974. Dr. Rich was the team doctor. Made up of a good number of semi and minor pros,  the roster included Jack Sangster, Red’s son; Gerald Fenske; Keith Redman; and Alex “Suds” Sutherland, who would also one day go on to be a City of Thompson recreation director.

In 1970, he won a Manitoba Historical Society Centennial Medal with the citation reading, “For his great contribution to sports and recreation in Thompson.” In 1983, he was named Citizen of the Year Award by the Thompson Lions Club.

Even so, Sangster faced a big curve ball when the University College of the North (UCN) wanted to build its new campus student housing behind the Thompson Regional Community Centre (TRCC), which would have meant the ball field would have to be obliterated in its current location and moved elsewhere.

For a five-month period between October 2009 and March 2010, UCN, the City of Thompson and Province of Manitoba were intent on moving Red Sangster Ball Field.

Following a public outcry, UCN backed off and relocated its student housing slightly to the southwest, saving the Red Sangster Ball Field.

Sangster also received one of the 60,000 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for presentation to civic-minded Canadians, created by the Royal Canadian Mint to mark the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty’s accession to the throne, on Oct. 20, 2012. As well, he was named by Our Foundation Thompson, formerly known as the Thompson Community Foundation, which was formed in 1995,  on Sept. 28, 2012 as  as the recipient of  its third annual Order of Thompson award.

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