Born at home near Vancouver’s Fraser Street on August 17, 1931, John died at home in Langley surrounded by his children and with his wife, Mary, curled up beside him.

John loved fire and pie, barn dances, road trips, efficient meetings, ladyfingers in a wood stove, sleek cattle, black dogs, good books, and especially people. He came from humble beginnings and never forgot his roots.

He grew up near 47th and Fraser in Vancouver, with rich ties to his mother’s ranching family in the Cariboo, originally in Empire Valley, west of the Fraser River, and later at 57 Mile House and in Clinton. He attended John Oliver High School and graduated from medical school at UBC in 1956. Taking his new bride, he began a rotating internship that summer at Lloyd Noland Hospital in Fairfield Alabama. After much consideration, he decided to become an orthopedic surgeon, completing his residency at UBC and his Royal College exam in 1962, and entering practice the following year, with his office at Hycroft Medical until 1989. He taught medical students and orthopedic residents for almost thirty years and was a common caricature on skits night. He loved the community of VGH.

John loved well, read widely, and had an incredible gift of recall. He was a good apologizer and an expert napper. He appreciated a good joke, good directions, and a morning at Green Lake. He had many interests, but his heart remained at “The Farm” and over the years he got much pleasure from it, especially that summer in the 1970s when his Jersey cow, Peter Lorre, gave enough milk to make 32 flavours of ice cream. He was a member of the Osler Society of Vancouver, President of the BC Simmental Association, director of the Canadian Simmental Association, longtime member of the Williams Lake Bull Sale Committee, and a board member of the Otter Farmer’s Institute –the Coop — for nine years, some of them as president.

John is survived by his wife Kathryn Mary (MacKinnon) Watt and his children and grandchildren: Beth (Peter Vieira) Duncan and John; Heather; Hugh (Sandy) Jack, Finn, and Kate; Jane (Greg Antle) Tom, Georgie, and Will; Bruce (Tammy Jackman) and his daughter Mary McNamee and her mother Pauline in Ireland; Maggie (Alan MacInnes) Joe, Calum, and Coll. He thought of Bo Hedges as an honourary son.

His family would like to thank the many doctors and nurses at VGH and LMH who had a role in his care over the years for their excellence, compassion, and ability to share a laugh as they went about their day.

As a UBC Alum, MD ’56, John Gordon Watt spent almost 30 years teaching medical students and orthopedic residents at UBC. Dr. Watt was a leader in his field of orthopedic surgery, and he was passionate about giving back through his teaching and mentorship of UBC medical students. He was committed to supporting students and taught them the importance of characteristics of being good physicians, including: professionalism, empathy, patience and compassion.

In honour of Dr. Watt’s significant contributions to the next generation of medical practitioners, The John Gordon Watt Bursary Fund in Medicine will support the next generation of medical students at UBC with demonstrated financial need, with preference given to students from rural British Columbia.