Family members, friends, members of the medical fraternity and well-wishers gathered at the Bethesda Methodist Church in Roseau on August 6, 2019, to say a final farewell to Dr. Edward Irving Watty who died on July 19, 2019, at the age of 93.
Edward Irving Watty was the third child of Nathaniel E.B. Watty and his wife Margaret. He was born in Marigot and was given the family name “Edward”. At the time of his birth, Marigot was what might be described as a “cradle community.
According to the eulogy, “it was there he formed friendships that lasted through many lifetimes.” He was awarded the islands scholarship and went to study medicine at Aberdeen University in Scotland after which he went to the University of Toronto where he specialized in Pathology. In 1976 he left Dominica with his family to assume a position as a regional pathologist in Alberta Canada. In 1955 he married his sweetheart the former Winifred Paul then a nurse in England, the union produced four children.
It continued; “Though in many respects a private person, he was active in the community as required and as he was able. A senior member of the local Freemason Lodge for many years a concerned citizen who in the past had been called upon to help mediate civil disputes on occasion required to act as President of the Commonwealth of Dominica in the absence of the incumbent also a former Ambassador of the Commonwealth to the United States a visiting lecturer at the Ross University School of Medicine he wore many hats and assumed many roles.”
As a young doctor, he enjoyed the country clinics especially visiting isolated villages at that time inaccessible by roads and attending to patients who would otherwise have been without recourse to doctor’s attention unless transported by hammock or canoe. Later he returned to England to expand his training in Tropical Medicine and Health a path which might better assist in addressing specific local problems.
In recognition of his service he was awarded the Sisserou Award of Honour (SAH) and the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He was laid to rest on August 7, 2019 on his private estate.
This article is copyright © 2019 DOM767
