Description

It is now 20 years since Dr. Roddie
MacDonald died. One hundred
and three at his last birthday,
he was for many years the
oldest practicing physician in
Canada. A correspondent reported
in 1954, when he was 96,
' 'On each birthday for the past 30
years his seven children have
urged him to retire." But the doctor
enjoyed the rewards of his
long career, "sometimes delivering
the great-great-grandchildren
of his first pat ients,
sometimes treating the babies he
delivered 60-odd years ago for
the afflictions of old age." Money
does not stand out among these
rewards: fees were low, and not
always collected. As he once remarked
en route to a delivery, "I
wasn't paid for the grandfather
yet." At 98, having del ivered
some 4,000 babies in country
homes, he stopped driving his
car and making housecalls.