Obituary for George Edwin Deering III
After a fulfilling career that included teaching, TV repair, service in the US Coast Guard, and 30 years as an emergency room physician, and after visiting all seven continents, all 50 states, and every MLB stadium, Ged Deering passed away peacefully surrounded by family and his wife of 45 years.
Ged, who never missed a chance for an adventure – or a pun – died at sunrise on April 12 after a six year battle with cancer. He was 74 years old.
Ged’s long and winding career and love of travel took him to unexpected places throughout his lifetime, culminating with a trip to Iceland with his youngest son where the pair chartered a two masted schooner and crossed into the arctic circle, achieving a lifelong goal to become a “square knot sailor” that began when he was a young man in the 1960s aboard a Coast Guard icebreaker that circumvented Antarctica and brought him to Chile, Australia, and New Zealand to name a few.
Dr. George Edwin Deering III, or Ged as he was known to all, was born in Worcester in 1946 to the late George Jr. and Ruby Deering.
In high school he won a statewide science fair before he moved to Santa Fe to attend St. John’s College, where he met his first wife, the mother of his daughters Margaret and Jane.
He left college early to join the Coast Guard, where he served for four years and four months, and for a time was stationed on an icebreaker that took him around the world. On his return to the US, he got a job in New York and earned dozens of college credits through a correspondence course on his daily commute on the Staten Island ferry. He moved later to Belchertown where he worked as a police officer in the Belchertown police department, and rebuilt an engine in his garage with his eldest daughter.
He later returned to college, completing his undergraduate degree at UMass Amherst before applying to UMass Medical School, deciding to make a slight career change to do “human repair work.”
He was working with his father at St. Vincent Hospital when he met a psychiatric nurse named Patricia Finn, who promptly asked him out on a date. The two moved into Ged’s trailer and were married in 1976. After their wedding, Pat and Ged set off on a cross-country road trip in a converted mail truck, visiting 37 states in two months.
It was during his residency at Berkshire Medical Center that he knew he wanted to be an ER doctor, a job he would hold for the next three decades, the vast majority of that time on the overnight shift. He would say often that he had extra time for any of his patients, even as US health care systems increasingly demanded the opposite.
He was once described in the Berkshire Eagle as “the kind of doctor Norman Rockwell made us wish we all could have.”
He was hardly ever without a second or third job though, moonlighting at medical centers around the state, teaching, and undertaking more than 20 medical mission volunteer trips to Jamaica, as well as to Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, the Galapagos, Ghana, and India. He also served as the team doctor for the Berkshire County Special Response Team for 10 years.
Threaded throughout his life and career was a love of teaching, which he practiced through EMT training courses, lectures, or conversing with anyone who had a question.
Even after retiring from Berkshire Medical Center in 2015 and moving to Cape Cod to be closer to family, and eventually being diagnosed with cancer, Ged found the energy to take on a teaching gig at Elms College in Chicopee, where he commuted every week. He never seemed to mind making long drives – for his work, to see his children, or to take his grandchildren on adventures.
Ged truly never missed an opportunity to make the most of the time he was given, except when it came to driving astonishing distances out of his way in search of the cheapest gasoline. He officiated the weddings of two of his children. He bungee jumped off the Stratosphere in Las Vegas – twice – at age 68. He took his grandson on an overnight train ride to Chicago.
He sought out adventure but he savored small moments, sitting alongside his family at a Red Sox game or tossing a baseball with his children and grandchildren. He loved talking to people and was an attentive listener, even though you could usually bet that his stories would be more interesting than your own.
He was grateful, and in his last days said often that he had been blessed. His outlook on life could perhaps be summed up by a saying he would repeat anytime he would sit down to a good meal, raise a glass for a toast, or gather with family: “Life is a struggle, a constant battle against adversity,” he would say with a chuckle. It was his way of reminding us all that we were lucky, or rather, blessed.
Ged had a strong will that shone through even in his final days, making his final wishes known and ensuring his loved ones were cared for. Like he did in life, he had plans ready for his death. His first order of business is to track down his cat Little, and ask her where she went for the three months she disappeared in the mid-1990s.
He is survived by his devoted wife, Pat, his children Margaret, Jane and her husband Alex, Geof and his wife Kirsten, Jyl, Josh and his wife Christina, his sister Martha and her husband Kurt, his sister Becky, grandchildren Daniel and Tyler, C. Oliver and Samuel, Chris and Halen, and countless friends.
A celebration of Ged’s life will be held on Tuesday, April 27 at 11 a.m. at Brewster Baptist Church in Brewster. Due to the pandemic, attendees are asked to preregister on the church website or by calling 508-896-3381, and will be asked to follow social distancing guidelines. A live stream of the service will be available from the church’s website, brewsterbaptistchurch.org. In lieu of flowers, Ged’s family asks for donations to The Christian Center of Pittsfield (193 Robbins Ave, Pittsfield, MA 01201) and VNA Hospice of Cape Cod.
Ged, who never missed a chance for an adventure – or a pun – died at sunrise on April 12 after a six year battle with cancer. He was 74 years old.
Ged’s long and winding career and love of travel took him to unexpected places throughout his lifetime, culminating with a trip to Iceland with his youngest son where the pair chartered a two masted schooner and crossed into the arctic circle, achieving a lifelong goal to become a “square knot sailor” that began when he was a young man in the 1960s aboard a Coast Guard icebreaker that circumvented Antarctica and brought him to Chile, Australia, and New Zealand to name a few.
Dr. George Edwin Deering III, or Ged as he was known to all, was born in Worcester in 1946 to the late George Jr. and Ruby Deering.
In high school he won a statewide science fair before he moved to Santa Fe to attend St. John’s College, where he met his first wife, the mother of his daughters Margaret and Jane.
He left college early to join the Coast Guard, where he served for four years and four months, and for a time was stationed on an icebreaker that took him around the world. On his return to the US, he got a job in New York and earned dozens of college credits through a correspondence course on his daily commute on the Staten Island ferry. He moved later to Belchertown where he worked as a police officer in the Belchertown police department, and rebuilt an engine in his garage with his eldest daughter.
He later returned to college, completing his undergraduate degree at UMass Amherst before applying to UMass Medical School, deciding to make a slight career change to do “human repair work.”
He was working with his father at St. Vincent Hospital when he met a psychiatric nurse named Patricia Finn, who promptly asked him out on a date. The two moved into Ged’s trailer and were married in 1976. After their wedding, Pat and Ged set off on a cross-country road trip in a converted mail truck, visiting 37 states in two months.
It was during his residency at Berkshire Medical Center that he knew he wanted to be an ER doctor, a job he would hold for the next three decades, the vast majority of that time on the overnight shift. He would say often that he had extra time for any of his patients, even as US health care systems increasingly demanded the opposite.
He was once described in the Berkshire Eagle as “the kind of doctor Norman Rockwell made us wish we all could have.”
He was hardly ever without a second or third job though, moonlighting at medical centers around the state, teaching, and undertaking more than 20 medical mission volunteer trips to Jamaica, as well as to Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, the Galapagos, Ghana, and India. He also served as the team doctor for the Berkshire County Special Response Team for 10 years.
Threaded throughout his life and career was a love of teaching, which he practiced through EMT training courses, lectures, or conversing with anyone who had a question.
Even after retiring from Berkshire Medical Center in 2015 and moving to Cape Cod to be closer to family, and eventually being diagnosed with cancer, Ged found the energy to take on a teaching gig at Elms College in Chicopee, where he commuted every week. He never seemed to mind making long drives – for his work, to see his children, or to take his grandchildren on adventures.
Ged truly never missed an opportunity to make the most of the time he was given, except when it came to driving astonishing distances out of his way in search of the cheapest gasoline. He officiated the weddings of two of his children. He bungee jumped off the Stratosphere in Las Vegas – twice – at age 68. He took his grandson on an overnight train ride to Chicago.
He sought out adventure but he savored small moments, sitting alongside his family at a Red Sox game or tossing a baseball with his children and grandchildren. He loved talking to people and was an attentive listener, even though you could usually bet that his stories would be more interesting than your own.
He was grateful, and in his last days said often that he had been blessed. His outlook on life could perhaps be summed up by a saying he would repeat anytime he would sit down to a good meal, raise a glass for a toast, or gather with family: “Life is a struggle, a constant battle against adversity,” he would say with a chuckle. It was his way of reminding us all that we were lucky, or rather, blessed.
Ged had a strong will that shone through even in his final days, making his final wishes known and ensuring his loved ones were cared for. Like he did in life, he had plans ready for his death. His first order of business is to track down his cat Little, and ask her where she went for the three months she disappeared in the mid-1990s.
He is survived by his devoted wife, Pat, his children Margaret, Jane and her husband Alex, Geof and his wife Kirsten, Jyl, Josh and his wife Christina, his sister Martha and her husband Kurt, his sister Becky, grandchildren Daniel and Tyler, C. Oliver and Samuel, Chris and Halen, and countless friends.
A celebration of Ged’s life will be held on Tuesday, April 27 at 11 a.m. at Brewster Baptist Church in Brewster. Due to the pandemic, attendees are asked to preregister on the church website or by calling 508-896-3381, and will be asked to follow social distancing guidelines. A live stream of the service will be available from the church’s website, brewsterbaptistchurch.org. In lieu of flowers, Ged’s family asks for donations to The Christian Center of Pittsfield (193 Robbins Ave, Pittsfield, MA 01201) and VNA Hospice of Cape Cod.