Ladislav ANTONIK

A tribute to the late Dr. Antonik By Rudy Bies Dr. Antonik was in Hearst from 1949-1952. He then studied in Montreal for two years and from 1954-1957 he was in Kapuskasing. In 1957 he left for British Columbia and his wife said he loved the North and spoke of it often. Dr. Ladislav Antonik passed away on Sept. 25, 2000 at his home in Saltspring Island, BC. He was born in Slovakia on Nov. 24, 1919 and came to Canada with his parents in 1934. They settled in Kapuskasing, where his father was employed at the Paper Mill. He is survived by his wife of 54 years Frances (nee Deir), brother Stephen, five children and 11 grandchildren. He graduated in medicine from Queen's University in 1946, did post graduate work in neurology at the Montreal Neurology Institute, practiced as a family doctor for many years in Hearst and Kap and Coquitlam, BC and was medical director of the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, BC for 10 years before his retirement. While in Kapuskasing, Dr. Antonik was also the coroner. He also spoke five languages, including Japanese. I have three very special memories of Dr. Antonik that stand out in my mind. The first occurred while he practiced in Hearst from 1949 until 1952. He was our family doctor when we lived in Bradlo. One cold winter day we were all sick with the flu and house-bound. Mom's chicken soup no longer helped so my anxious parents called Dr. Antonik. He came to our house walking the last two miles on foot on a very cold January day. His entrance to our farmhouse made quite a spectacle. He was carrying his medical bag and his head was topped with a huge fur hat. In minutes he examined us, produced some cough medication that we needed and then socialized in Slovak with my mother and father over a nice warm tea while he reassured them that we would be just fine. My second experience was a little different. I was about 12-years old and had developed this abscessed tooth. This was the mother of all tooth aches. My face had swelled to a painfully enormous size. There were no dentists in Hearst at the time so my father took me to Dr. Antonik. Because the tooth was abscessed it could not be frozen with a pain killer. Dr. Antonik had my father hold me down in the chair and the tooth was extracted without freezing. The third occurred many years alter. Along with the rest of Canada I was watching the final stages of the Terry Fox saga on television. I could not believe my eyes when the medical director of the Royal Columbian Hospital for New Westminster, BC stepped in front of the TV cameras to give the nation an update on Terry Fox's condition. It was Dr. Ladislav Antonik.