Anthony Paddon
Royal Canadian Navy
Son of Dr. Harry and Mina Paddon
Northwest River, LabradorEnlisted:
Embarked
PADDON, WILLIAM ANTHONY (1914 - 1995) Physician; Lieutenant-Governor. Born Indian Harbour, son of Dr. Harry L. And Mina (Gilchrist) Paddon qqv. Educated Lenox School, Massachusetts; Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut; New York State Medical School. Married Sheila Fortescue. He spent his childhood in the Labrador communities of Indian Harbour and North West River, where his parents provided medical services with the International *Grenfell Association qv. As a medical student, Paddon assisted his father aboard the Maravel qv, the Grenfell hospital ship. Shortly after qualifying as a doctor in 1940 and interning at St. Luke's Hospital, New York, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy. Following the War he joined the International Grenfell Association in St. Anthony, where he served as assistant medical officer. In 1947 he took over the running of the hospital at North West River, a task his mother had carried out almost single-handedly after the death of her husband in 1939. His duties involved not only hospital work, but travelling as far north as Nain. He was also responsible for the other Grenfell facilities, including an Infants' Home and the boarding school which took in students from a large number of Labrador communities. He was director of the International Grenfell Association from 1960 to 1978, a time in which its vital importance to Labrador both as the only medical service and as the prime employer in that part of Labrador was drawing to a close, the provincial government having gradually assumed responsibility for health care and education in Labrador. Medical care became centralized in the Happy Valley - Goose Bay hospital, while the boarding school was closed in 1980. Paddon retired in 1978. In 1981 he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador, the first Labradorian to hold the position. He served in this capacity until 1986. Thereafter he and his family continued to live part-time in North West River. In 1986 he published his autobiography, Labrador Doctor: My Life with the Grenfell Mission. In 1977 Paddon was awarded an honorary D.Sc. By Memorial University, and the next year was appointed to the order of Canada. W. A. Paddon (1989), DNLB (1990), Them Days Labrador Archive (PL 219). Martha MacDonald. Tributes to Dr. Anthony Paddon