About Us

BURKE, DR. JOHN (1889-1977).  John Burke graduated from Dalhousie in 1919 and went to Grand Bank to practice medicine. For the next forty-one years he served the medical needs of the Grand Bank-Fortune area and served as chief administrator of the Grand Bank Cottage Hospital. Though a general practitioner, he found it necessary to act as a surgeon as well. He traveled regularly around the Burin Peninsula from Lamaline to Garnish making house calls, often having to use a horse and slide in winter. He also made trips to the islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon, Brunette and Sagona to treat the sick there, and patients were brought to Grand Bank from as far away as Burgeo.

In 1948 he was awarded the C.B.E. by King George VI. He served as President of the Newfoundland Medical Association and was made an honorary life member. He retired from practice in 1961 and the new regional high school, opened at Grand Bank that year, was named in his honour. That school burned down in 1976 but the new one built to replace it was also named for Burke. He died December 7, 1977. Newfoundland Historical Society (Grand Bank)

Source: Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, volume 1