CHSLD Résidence Herron

Dorval, Que.

Residents 154

Infected residents N/A

Deaths At least 33

Infected staff N/A

Staff deaths N/A

John Whitehead May 30, 1930-April 11, 2020

Roxanne Whitehead (née Buchak), wife of 59 years to John Whitehead, is focused on celebrating how he lived rather than how he died of COVID-19 at the now infamous CHSLD Résidence Herron in Dorval, where at least 33 people have died since the pandemic began.

“He had a great life,” said Roxanne Whitehead, who met her soulmate while studying dentistry together at Mcgill University. He died a month short of his 90th birthday.

They graduated together in 1961 and were married that same year. “We were kind of like Bobbsey Twins,” she said.

Born in Smithfield, N.C., Whitehead practised dentistry in North Carolina with his wife for a year, before returning to Montreal. Their dentist office was conveniently located next to their Town of Mount Royal home.

The Whitehead family, with son Darrell and daughter Keira, spent summers swimming and boating at Bark Lake in Ontario. Decades later, the family spent winters as snowbirds in Florida.

Whitehead retired at age 72 and enjoyed golfing at the Arundel and Royal Montreal golf clubs — until the onset of Parkinson’s disease cut short his leisure activities.

In his later years at the Herron, the family would often visit to bring comfort, mirth and food. His wife recalled: “We would always bring hamburgers and a beer to have a little party on Sundays. He loved it. We cut everything up for him and that was really a treat for him.”

Because of the pandemic, his private funeral is being limited to immediate family.

In mourning, his wife is sustained by her children and cherished family photos. “You don’t appreciate the good times you are experiencing at the moment,” she said. “If everyone would sit down when they’re having a really good time and just close their eyes and say, ‘This is special and I’m going to remember this day because perhaps I’m not going to see it again.’ ”