Dr. Donald Stewart Burris M.D.C.M., F.R.C.S.(C), F.R.C.O.G. July 13, 1920 - January 31, 2018
On January 31, 2018, Stewart died peacefully at the Marjorie Willoughby Snowden Memorial Hospice Home after a brief illness.
Stewart was the oldest child of Dr. H.L. and Robina Burris. He was born and raised in Kamloops, spending some of his early school years at Vernon Preparatory School, before graduating from high school in Kamloops. He obtained his BA at UBC in Vancouver and his medical degree at McGill University in Montreal, then undertook his internship at Montreal General Hospital. In 1950, he began his postgraduate education in Obstetrics & Gynecology in London, England and after completing this, returned to Kamloops in 1952 and joined the Burris Clinic. He loved the practice of medicine and over the next four decades he delighted in providing medical care to the people of Kamloops and surrounding areas. With the assistance of many nurses, he was involved in the delivery of several thousand of the past and current residents of Kamloops.
He had many and varied interests throughout his life. In his early years, he excelled in badminton, competing in National level competitions and continued to play various racquet sports well into his sixties. Other sports he enjoyed were alpine and cross-country skiing in winter and windsurfing in summer. He loved to spend time in his garden or in the woods at Shuswap Lake. Many hours were spent by Stewart reading all kinds of books and he was particularly interested in local and provincial history. At various times, his civic interests included the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club and the Kamloops Museum. He also loved walking to and from work and enjoyed talking to anyone he met on his route.
