Life of William Hobbs

May 16, 1927 - September 29, 2012

Dr. William George Reginald Hobbs died in Brandon, Manitoba, on September 29, 2012. Dr. Hobbs was born May 16, 1927, in Alderney, Channel Islands. He was the son of Captain Fredrick Walter Hobbs of the Duke of Yorks light infantry. Dr. Hobbs is survived by a large and loving family. His wife from 1957 to 1992 was Hilda May Hobbs with whom he had six children: Portia, Mercedes, Britannia, Alexandria, Godfrey and Cloudesley. He has eight grandchildren: Nadia, Kyla, Britannia, Portia, Robert, Dylan, Erica and Diego. He has one great-grandchild Eva Pillar Castillo. He has one surviving brother Dennis Hobbs living in England.

During the Second World War, William along with his three brothers Frederick, John and Dennis, were evacuated from blitz-torn Plymouth to Penzance. Just after the war, William performed his military service and received a scholarship to study medicine. He attended the University of Bristol where he also realized and developed a talent for art. His sketches and paintings were admired by art teachers at the university who advised him to study art rather than medicine. Nonetheless, William Hobbs graduated from Bristol with a Bachelor of Science degree in surgery and a second Bachelor of Science in Medicine. He then became a ships surgeon of the British Merchant Navy.

In 1959 Dr. Hobbs immigrated to Canada where he began a career as a physician and surgeon in Gainsborough, Saskatchewan, which serviced the local community and a vast rural area. Notwithstanding the considerable demands imposed upon him by his role a rural physician, he managed to develop a technical skill in painting which won him first prize in a major Canadian art show in 1978. William Hobbs also attended Banff School of Fine Arts, and the Emma Lake Campus at the University of Saskatchewan. He took the 1st place at the Texas International Art Show in 1976 and 2nd place 1978. He has also been honored with numerous one-man shows, as well as having his work selected for showing at the International Grand Prix of contemporary Art in Monte Carlo. Dr. Hobbs is best remembered as Canada’s foremost painter of prairie railway stations. In his retirement, Dr. Hobbs worked tirelessly to capture in paintings a record of Canada’s railway history. He also did commissioned works for the Canadian military which was a tremendous honor for him as he came from a military family.

In 1968, the Hobbs family moved to Montana where Dr. Hobbs passed the Montana and North Dakota state boards.

He eventually returned to Saskatchewan and worked tirelessly to improve the town of Gainsborough. He told me "my time in Gainsborough were the best years of my life. I never knew such contentment." Dr. Hobbs worked tirelessly but loved to work. He built the clinic in the neo-classic style and always strove for improvements. He had a wonderful staff including a British nurse and saved many lives in the Gainsborough Hospital. He told me "God put man on earth to work and I am only happy when I am working."

In addition to being a doctor and an artist, Dr. Hobbs served as mayor of Gainsborough and was instrumental in the paving of the towns streets and the building of a community swimming pool. In 1972, he rescued and restored the Gainsborough train station restoring it to its original grandeur of 1928. He converted the building into an Art School, which was the first rural art school in Saskatchewan. Although, Dr. Hobbs’ medical practice moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, he is still much loved by the town of Gainsborough and one of his paintings adorns the town sign on Main Street.