William Semple Reid Craig, obstetrician and gynaecologist, B.M. CH.B. (1955), MRCOG (1965), born 8 January 1930, Halifax, Yorkshire: died 5 October 2025, St. Thomas, Ontario.
William Craig, the eldest son of a Scottish medical practitioner, was the third of four siblings. He attended Bradford Grammar School and Harrow School before matriculating at St Peter’s Hall, Oxford where he read medicine. He completed his clinical work at the London Hospital, gaining his degree in 1955.
Upon qualification, he completed two years of National Service with the Royal Army Medical Corps including tours of duty in Cyprus and British Somaliland. Returning to England in 1958, he worked in various medical posts, including Leamington Spa where he met Kathleen Raine, a newly qualified medical doctor. They married on 23 April 1960 and had six children. He passed his examinations as a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology in 1965.
The family moved to Uganda for two and a half years for a position at the Mulago Hospital in Kampala and returned to England in 1969. In 1971, they emigrated to Canada, first to Swift Current, Saskatchewan and a year later to Brandon, Manitoba where he worked for the next twenty years. In 1992, William and Kathleen moved from Brandon to work in Sudbury, Ontario where they stayed for another 21 years before making a final move in 2013 to St Thomas, Ontario.
A fine singer (the more fortissimo the better), he loved his Lord, family and work. The rest of his time was spent with people, conversation, music, reading, walking and crosswords.
He leaves behind his beloved wife, Kathleen, six children, 25 grandchildren, and 28 great grandchildren: William and Nancy, Steven, Heather (Delyle), Jonathan (Gillian), Timothy; Ruth and Peter, John, Sarah (Nelson), Evan (Olivia), Kathryn (Tyson), Grace (Patrick), Andrew (Kara); John and Hilde, Joshua (Ting), Halael (Jonathan), Nicola (David), Matthew (Larissa), Jonathan; Helen, Annie (Nathan), Jennifer, William, Isobel; Elizabeth, Beth (Christophe), Margaret (Cody), Alice, Charles; Mary and Simon, Emma, Christopher.
He was predeceased by his three siblings (Maxwell, Fiona, Ailsa); son-in-law David Torrance and great-grandson Elijah.