Popular Pill Doctor Ian Hawkins passes away
Dr Ian Hawkins - Credit: Archant
A cheerful and committed family doctor who served the people of Pill for more than 30 years has passed away.
Dr Ian Hawkins died on April 25. at Abbots Leigh Nursing Home after a long illness.
Dr Hawkins was born in East London, on March 3, 1931, where he spent his formative years.
Living with his parents in Essex during World War Two, Dr Hawkins witnessed first-hand the suffering and destruction wrought by the Blitz.
After completing his national service as a member of the Royal Artillery, he was awarded a scholarship to study medicine at the University College Hospital in London, where he specialised in obstetrics.
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After graduating Dr Hawkins married Veronica Peers, a charge nurse from Vancouver in Canada, the pair then moved to Easton-in-Gordano, when he got a job working at the nearby GP practice in Pill in 1962.
Working as a family doctor and obstetrician, Dr Hawkins attended the births of hundreds of residents in the Gordano Valley throughout his three-decade long career.
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Known for his good nature, cheerful outlook, pragmatism, and committed work ethic, Dr Hawkins was regarded with great warmth by his patients and the community at large.
Ian and Veronica had five children, and their home was always full and noisy.
In no small part due to his love of music, a keen musician Dr Hawkins played the guitar and piano with great enthusiasm and skill, before startling his children and neighbours by learning to play the accordion when well into his 80s.
A devoted family man and doctor, who saw success in both his personal and professional life, Dr Hawkins retired in 1993, and spent much of the following years travelling with his wife Veronica, to visit their children, and grandchildren living in Kenya, Ethiopia, Canada and Madagascar.
Veronica died in 2013, and Dr Hawkins moved from Pill to Adlington House in Portishead, where enjoyed frequent walks and often bumped into people he had treated during his career, who regarded him with great love and respect.
Dr Hawkins is survived by his four children Andrew, Katherine, Ben and Thomas, and seven grandchildren,
