Dear Editor:
Having spent my childhood in the West Kootenays I particularly enjoyed your spring edition of BC History.
My father was a family doctor in Castlegar and had many Doukhobor patients. This was in the daysbefore Medicare, and we often woke up to a porch full of produce in lieu of monetary payment. My mother did a lot of canning. My father took the trouble to learn some Russian and often acted as interpreter between Doukhobors and other health professionals. Instead of prescriptions he often used folk remedies with which the Doukhobors were more familiar. He was adored by his Doukhobor patients, something I didn’t find out about until fifty years later. My husband and I were singing at a Mothers’ Day peace rally in the park at the Osoyoos border. In attendance were Doukhobor peace groups from Grand Forks and the West Kootenays. After we sang, people came up to me asking if I was Dr. Ruebsaat’s daughter. When I said yes, they regaled me with stories of how my father had delivered babies and saved lives in their families. Their affection for my father was palpable.
