OBITUARY
DR. R. R. THOMAS MBERobert Richard Thomas, (or Bob, as he was known to friends), was born on July 4th 1926 on the island of Anglesey, North Wales, and passed away at Peebles Hospital in Tortola, on July 27th 2011. He was educated at Holyhead County School, and then Bangor University, followed by Manchester University where he studied medicine.
Dr. Thomas travelled extensively after qualifying as a doctor but always enjoyed returning home to Wales. This work included ship's doctor on both the Empress of Canada and Empress of England during which time he became friendly with (now Dame) Shirley Bassey, she too being a native of Wales.
His travels took him to Canada and from there to work in the Arctic where he was a Dew Line Doctor (Distance Early Warning) working extensively with Eskimos. He wrote a book about his experiences called Drew Line Doctor, under the pseudonym Gareth Howerd. This was published in 1962.
In 1966 he signed a 2 year contract to work in the BVI as Medical Officer, arriving on June 23rd of that year. He quickly established himself as a caring, conscientious practitioner. He was a pioneer in setting up the BVI public health system, and would drive wherever possible to take the public health nurses to visit patients, when travelling around Tortola was not easy.
Dr. Thomas delivered countless babies in the BVI, and this is probably how he will best be remembered.
He adopted Dion in 1968 and spent the rest of his days trying to do the best for him. In 1978 he was awarded the MBE for outstanding achievements in tropical medicine, for service overseas and for services to the community.
He received this honour from Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace with Dion at his side.
1984 saw a change from Government Medical Officer to private practice, when he joined Dr. N. J. Brewley’s Medical Services, later to become B & F Medical Complex, and that is where he worked, until he retired due to poor health in 2005.He lived on Macnamara hill with Dion and his cat, Dylan, (Dylan number 3 survives him). Many of his ex-patients would visit him at home and he always enjoyed their company. From November 2010 he has been a patient at Peebles Hospital where he was lovingly cared for on a daily basis by Helen Thomas, as well as the nursing staff. He died peacefully on July 27th. The public is invited to celebrate the life of the late Dr. Bob Thomas on Thursday, September 8th at 5:00 p.m. at the Government House Reception Hall.
From: The BVI Beacon, Thursday September 1st, 2011: 8.