Here is Sid with my grandmother "Frankie", Frances Harriet Killam
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Here is Sid with my grandmother "Frankie", Frances Harriet Killam |
This man, born in
1901, was my grandfather, Dr. William Sidney ("Sid")
Gilchrist. He was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, and
received his medical training in Canada, Alabama and
Portugal. He was a Member of the Order of the British
Empire, and was one of the one hundred Canadians who earned
the Centennial Medal in 1967. He was a recipient of many
further honorary degrees and awards in addition to his
professional designations. He served at a county health
unit in Alabama and with the Canadian Medical Corps in Europe
during World War II, but his main life-long vocational
devotion was his career as medical missionary in Angola,
mainly in Camundongo, Bailundo, Dondi and Chissamba. He
is renowned for his groundbreaking work there in public
health, preventive medicine and the training of African
medical workers.
Sid was Dalhousie
University's Medical Alumnus of the year for 1970, the year he
died. The excellent biography they provided until recently
on their alumni website has been rescued by the Electric
Scotland website in its section on Significant Scots: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/gilchrist_william.htm
Frankie was Sid's
devoted spouse and life-long companion, a shy but strong
woman. She died along with her husband and her daughter
Betty in a terrible car accident on the highway near Olds,
Alberta in 1970. Her father was Frederick William
Killam, and her mother was Rosina Maud Theakston. Fred
Killam owned the Nova Scotia Nurseries, and had a home high on
Kaye Street in Halifax, overlooking the harbour where the two
ships collided in the devastating 1917 Halifax
Explosion. Here's an article written by Fred's niece,
Frankie's first cousin, about her father Dr. Harold Killam - pages
28 to 34 of this pdf - which also mentions his brother
Fred. Fred and his family survived, but every other
family on that street had fatalities and some entire families
were wiped out. I don't know what happened to his
business; Dad once told me that the family donated the land to
the Canadian war effort, but another descendant thinks the
business might also have been wiped out by the
explosion.
Here's a sweet
write-up from the Berwick Register, Aug 10th, 1898:
| An August Wedding: On Wednesday of last week a pretty (sic) took place in the Robie St. Methodist church, Halifax, when Miss Rose M. Theakston of that city was united in marriage to Fred W. Killam, of Woodville. The ceremony was preformed (sic) by the Rev Dr Smith, assisted by the Rev J.E. Hughson. The bride wore a pretty costume of French grey cashmere, with hat to match. She was attended by her sister, Miss Tillie Theakston, who was becomingly dressed in bluette. The groom's "best man" was his brother, Mr. Harold Killam, who had charge last year of the school at South Berwick. The church, which was handsomely decorated in honor of the event by the members of the Epworth League, was crowded to the doors by the numerous friends of the bride and groom. After the ceremony Mr. and Mrs. Killam took the D.A.R. train for a trip through the valley. They were the recipients of many handsome gifts including a set of carvers and dinner knives from the fellow employees of the groom at the Nova Scotia nursery. The groom's gift to the bride was a gold watch and chain. |
Rosina Maud
Theakston's father Henry (Frankie's grandfather) was one of
five sons of Major
Paylor Theakston, a celebrated figure in that place and
time.
Descendants of
Frankie's sister Leota are on our family Facebook group,
Descendants of Thomas Gilkerson-Gilchrist - Margaret
Christison, for example. Also, since I've been asked
about this connection by family members: one of Harold
Killam's daughters was Margaret Dorothy Killam who married
Carl Edmund Atwood, and she is the mother of Margaret Atwood
the well-known Canadian author, so that's how we are related
to her - cousins through my great-grandfather and great
grand-uncle who were siblings.
Three books and a
collection of letters provide further detail into Sid's life
and work for anyone who is interested in knowing more about
him. I used to keep them online, but now in the interest
of server space on my website, I've removed them. If you
wish to read them, email me
for a digital copy. My nephews and possibly other
family members also have copies, in case something has
happened to me or to my email address.
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Sid wrote Angola Awake in 1968. It is a call to arms against the Portuguese colonial administrators who were becoming progressively brutish and repressive of the African population in Angola; and it is an attempt to inform and awaken the conscience of influential members of society and institutions in western nations so that they might apply pressure to Portugal to change their policy on the administration of colonialism in Angola. |
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This is Sid's first published work, a slender paperback, with photos, written in 1938 shortly before he returned to Canada to obey the patriotic call to serve in the Canadian Medical Corps in Europe during WWII |
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In conjunction with the orphanage, she ran a school in "domestic science" for young women. |
 Each student was assigned one of the orphans for the duration of the course, and was taught to provide expert child-care. |
