Arthur Riley Armstrong was born in Toronto, on December 23, 1904, to Arthur Leopold Armstrong and Bessie Irene Massey. At the age of four, his father passed away and his mother remarried E.S. Glassco. From 1923 to 1930, he studied medicine in the medical school in Toronto, during which period of time he attended the London Medical School Hospital as an undergraduate for a year. After graduation, Dr. Armstrong went to Oxford University for a year before he came back to Toronto and went into Pathological Chemistry. In 1933 he joined the Banting Research, where he worked under Professor E.J. King and together they devised the King-Armstrong method for the measurement of the alkaline phosphatase activity in serum. Following that Dr. Armstrong worked directly with Sir Frederick Banting as his technician, before he went to the Mountain Sanatorium in 1935, where he worked as a part-time biochemist and later the acting director.
During World War Two, Dr. Armstrong joined the army medical corps and being seconded to chemical warfare, where he worked with anti-gas ointments. Later he went to Munsterlager, Germany and worked with the mobile unit until the end of the war in 1945. After the war, Dr. Armstrong resumed as the acting director of the laboratories. He later became the director, serving until his retirement in 1970.
Clifford Armitage Was born on December 2, 1903, in Armstrong, British Columbia to Alfred Emerson Armitage and Jean Beattie. Moving to London, Ontario with his family at an early age, he received his early education at Rectory Street School. In 1911 his father moved west, working as an agent-telegrapher with the Canadian Northern Railway, and following that, Armitage went to Saskatchewan and lived in Blaine Lake from 1912 to 1920, until he finished his high school. Graduating from the University of Saskatchewan in 1925 with a B.A. degree, Armitage worked at different jobs before enrolling at the University of Toronto’s Medical School in 1927. After graduating in 1931, he interned at the Toronto General Hospital as a resident physician and then worked briefly as a locum tenens for Dr. McDonald in Kilbride, Ontario and as a camp doctor at the summer camp run by St. Andrew's College. Following that Dr. Armitage interned at the psychiatric hospital in Toronto, H.P. and later went to England, working as a house physician at the Radcliffe infirmary in Oxford for six months. In 1934, Dr. Armitage come back to Canada and settled in practice in Schumacher, a Timmins suburb, where he got involved in the set up of the prepaid medical plans for the Hollinger mine.
During the Word War Two, Dr. Armitage served in the reserve army as a medical officer for a time and on that basis, he moved to Toronto with his family. After getting discharged from the army, he went back to Timmins and became associated with Dr. Jack Stiles, a classmate of his, and they practiced together for six years. In 1951, Dr. Armitage left Timmins and come to Brampton, where he went into an association with Dr. Bartlet before getting on his own as a single, solo family practitioner doing anesthesia as a sideline.
Dr. Armitage married Ethel Elizabeth Pears, a girl that he knew as a child out west in 1937. Their first child, Donald, born in 1939, is a practising specialist in Brampton; their second child, Kathleen, born in 1941, is a specialist in Physical Medicine in Brampton. Dr. Armitage passed away in 1991.
Howard John Alexander was born on April 14, 1894, in Langton,
Ontario, to William Craig Alexander and Catherine Hagan. Graduating from Simcoe Secondary School in 1912, Dr. Alexander enrolled in Hamilton Normal School and from 1913-17 taught in a public school and farmed in Norfolk County. In 1919, Dr. Alexander started his medical study in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto and graduated in 1925 with a M.B. degree. Following his graduation, he interned at Toronto General Hospital from 1925-26 and then joined a clinic in Welland for one year in general practice. On June 15, 1927, Dr. Alexander came to Tillsonburg, where he joined a group practice for about 55 years until 1981 when he retired from practicing medicine. After retirement, Dr. Alexander published a book, 56 Years in Medical Practice, looking back over his 56 years as a practicing physician in Tillsonburg.
Dr. Alexander married Florence Evelyn Cowan (born in Langton, Ontario on February 6, 1897) on September 2, 1926. Together they had two children: daughter Mary (born March 29, 1928) and son John (September 14, 1934). In 1986, at the age of 93, Dr. Alexander passed away at Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital.
Born Jan 4, 1921, Leonard served in the military during World War II, with deployments in England and Sicily, and was a member of the Lorn Scots protection platoon. In 1941, he married Ada Elaine, beginning a relationship that would last over five decades. Leonard's life changed significantly in 1949 when he sustained an industrial injury near the McGivney ammunition dump while working with New Brunswick Hydro, resulting in paraplegia. Despite this setback, Leonard demonstrated remarkable resilience, undergoing extensive rehabilitation and continuing his professional career with New Brunswick Hydro for over three decades, eventually rising to the position of supervisor.
Beyond his professional achievements, Leonard cherished time with his family, which included two sons and two daughters. He passed away on June 20, 2002.