Owen King

Owen King was a quiet, gentle giant in health care. He was a gifted surgeon who performed all types of surgery from orthopedics to general surgery to Obstetrics and Gynecology. A nurse once told me that she has seen no surgeon who could remove a baby from the uterus during a Caesarian section as quickly as Owen King. He performed some of the most complex surgery in the basic conditions at Victoria Hospital. The Mondesir family can tell you the story of Owen King opening the chest of their 9-year-old brother to surgically correct a patent ductus arteriosus 45 years ago. Some 3 years later the young Mondesir was at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and the chief cardiac surgeon there said he could not believe that a surgeon in a small island could have done that surgery so well. Mr. Vance Pilgrim once told me that he remembers Owen King fighting as if fighting for his own life to save the life of a woman who was bleeding profusely.

He was a doctor who loved knowledge and learning. He loved the science of medicine, and he read and studied throughout his life; his knowledge was always current. He was a patient, thoughtful and compassionate doctor. His thoughtfulness is captured by his comment that “a good surgeon is the one who knows when not to cut.”

Compassion is a product of love, love for people, and love for patients. God, by any definition is Love and where love is, there is God. Owen King knew this, felt this and acted in this manner. The combination of knowledge and love for people is what made Owen King a great healer. This is what his patients felt when they were in his care. This engendered the confidence of patients and colleagues. This confidence is the deep and quiet confidence of perfect love, which casts out all fear. 

For Tapion Hospital Owen King was one of the founders, the first chairman of the board and one the main fundraisers at inception. His presence inspired confidence the investors. The stage is now set for us to create that healing ethos within the walls of this hospital inspired by that spirit, inspired by the life of a great Saint Lucian healer, one who showed us how we can heal. We can be encouraged and confident as we, the health workers of this country and the staff of this hospital, start a new chapter in our history, one in which we can be the healers that our people deserve. One love, one health, one people.”

Owen King was the second son of Charles and Amy King. He was born on the 23^rd July 1925. The other children of Charles and Amy King were Alan, Thelma, Derek and Joan. Charles or Charlie King was a “larger than life” character who was the first Saint Lucian postmaster-general. He was also a businessman and the political leader of the People’s Progressive Party. Amy King was a business women and housewife. Owen King grew up in Castries. He attended St Mary’s College from 1936-1942. He was an island scholar and in 1944 he went to McGill University to pursue a medical degree. He was enjoying life in Canada a little too much for Charlie King’s liking so he transferred to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland where he continued his medical degree. He graduated in 1951. He married Anne King nee Bates in June 1951. He returned to Saint Lucia in 1952 and his first child, Jane, was born. He worked as a medical officer in Victoria Hospital for one year and then went to UWI, Mona, Jamaica as a registrar and lecturer. In 1953 he returned to the United Kingdom and was a registrar in Burnley, his second child, Susan, was born. In 1955 he was transferred by the UK Foreign Office to Trinidad as a medical officer and registrar at Port of Spain General Hospital. In 1957 he returned to Scotland to complete his FRCS (Edin), specialist certification in Surgery. In 1959 his third child, Stephen, was born. In 1959 he was sent back to Trinidad by the Foreign Office and transferred to Tobago where he worked until 1962. He wanted to return to his homeland, Saint Lucia, and therefore asked to be transferred to Victoria Hospital. His wish was granted by the Foreign Office and he started work as the first Saint Lucian surgeon at Victoria Hospital. It was then that his legendary work truly commenced.  Together with Dr. PAW St. Rose and Dr. Malcolm Rigsby they formed the Saint Lucia Medical and Dental Association and he was the first president. He did a six month sabbatical in chest surgery in the UK in 1965, his fourth child, Alison, was born. He returned to Saint Lucia and his fifth child, Sarah Hutcheon nee House, was born. His last child Amanda was born in 1966. He did a short stint as a surgeon in Saskatchewan, Canada in 1968 and a year in Trinidad 1971-1972 when he replaced Dr Butler at Port of Spain General while Dr Butler was on sabbatical. He retired in 1998 when he was 73 years old.

He was a builder, he loved doing and making things: from his first house at Anse Mahaut which my mother called the house that Jack built, because it was so crooked; though all the other houses he built sold for tidy sums of money. I remember Sir John Compton talking about the pier he built at Anse Mahaut. He said he could not understand why Owen King was building a pier by throwing concrete into the sea, but years later he saw the beautiful beach that had resulted, appreciating the Anse Mahaut property considerably, and the pier that now looked like a natural rock formation. He said Owen King was wiser than he thought. We, his children and Cornelius Alfred, have many fond memories of carrying river stone, mixing cement and dropping blocks in the sea, that pier was built not only with rocks and mortar but also with love, family love.

He was a farmer, from copra to cocoa to citrus to beautiful orchids. He loved and raised animals, pigs and cows in Anse Mahaut, to dogs at his home. He loved the land, plants and animals.

He was a sportsman from pole vaulting as a teenager to captain of the University of Edinburgh fencing team. He was selected to go for the UK Olympic trials in 1951, his final year of his medical degree, but he chose to finish his medical degree instead. He played tennis with his daughters and friends, and he was a sailor. He taught all of us to sail. He started the Saint Lucia Yacht club in which we had many years of great memories as a family. He took us sailing to Martinique, the Grenadines, around Saint Lucia; so many beautiful loving family moments.

He was an author and published four books including novels, poetry, meditations and even a short play. He explored humanity and the meaning of life in those writings.

He was a philosopher and loved to discuss philosophy. No comment captures his love of wisdom and life-long learning better than the comment by the then chief education officer, Ms. Augusta Ifill, who said she used to look at him with awe as at 80 years she saw him coming to the Ministry of Education to write examinations as he pursued a long-distance degree in philosophy.

He was a traveler; I think he visited every continent and multiple countries. He loved to see and experience different lands and different cultures. He loved adventure. His life has taught us many lessons. We must work hard in service to others. We must challenge ourselves to do more in as many spheres of life that we can. We must be hungry for knowledge and commit to life long learning. We must listen carefully, observe everything and reflect on life; it’s meaning, and our role in making the world a better place. We must love the land and what it can produce. We must live life to the fullest