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George Stecko didn’t just preach the importance of helping others, he set the example.
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Despite being one of Windsor’s most in-demand orthopedic surgeons for four decades, he always found time to help underprivileged children and those with special needs, whether that meant doing medical procedures or offering wagon rides.
The retired doctor, who struggled with dementia in his later years, died Saturday in Kelowna, BC He was 87.
His legacy of helping others might have served as inspiration to those who met Stecko along the way, but it certainly had a profound effect on his daughter.
“He would do orthopedic operations on kids that were special,” said Cathy Stecko, a retired special education teacher who lives in London. “He took that on for special needs adults and children. That’s why I got into special education. He was really caring and compassionate toward those families. Not that he wasn’t to everybody else, but he had a heart for them.”
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Born in London into a Ukrainian family, Stecko couldn’t speak a word of English when he started school. The family moved to Windsor when his father landed a job with Chrysler.
After studying at Queen’s University, he returned to the Windsor area to start his practice and quickly became a go-to surgeon in the region.
Despite a busy schedule, I have dedicated at least one day a week to helping out a local children’s centre. Cathy said her parents de ella also made a habit out of bringing the kids to their Harrow farm for swimming and hayrides.
“He would rev up the tractor and go up and down the concession roads,” she said.
“The kids had a really nice time going out for those little adventures on the farm.”
Stecko found adventures of his own, too. Friend William Kachmaryk said he and Stecko, an avid fly-fisher, regularly took their sons into the Northern Ontario wilderness on fishing trips.
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“Summers provided our boys with fishing excursions to Northern Ontario, flying into isolated lakes or flagging down a VIA train trackside in accessing other remote areas,” he said.
Stecko also loved seeking out new exploits to share with his wife, Violet.
“There’s pretty much not a place they haven’t traveled to,” said Cathy. “He even had an accident in France. He fell off a bike and wound up having to go to a French clinic. This doctor stitched him all up. I really liked to travel and share those stories with friends and family.”
One of his favorite places was New Zealand, which he loved for the people, the fly-fishing and the wine.
“They actually talked about moving there,” said Cathy. “That was one place they decided they would settle, to our shock and dismay. But they didn’t. They moved to Kelowna instead.”
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She said her parents moved west about 22 years ago.
“They pretty much decided to move because there were grandchildren on the way,” said Cathy, whose brother Stephen lives in Kelowna. “He was around all their lives.”
Kachmaryk said Stecko only “semi-retired” when he moved to Kelowna. Stecko spent weeks at a time in northern Canada caring for Aboriginal populations and other communities where medical specialists were non-existent.
At the very least, said his daughter, he was always able to lift people’s spirits.
“People loved to be around him,” she said. “I have communicated with anybody. Children, seniors, adolescents. He was full of a lot of laughter. I remember that.”
