Biography:

Dr. Gerald Wilsdon Stanley was born in Ballymote (Middlesex County), Ontario on the 20th of May, 1900.  Dr. Stanley was the eldest of 2 sons born to James Alfred Stanley and the former Mahitabel Hodgins.  His father was a storekeeper in the community of Ballymote and he had a younger brother named Willard Hodgins Stanley.  According to the 1911 census, Dr. Stanley lived at 888 Waterloo Street in London, Ontario.  By the 1921 census, his family had moved to 285 Wortley Road in London.

Dr. Stanley graduated M.D. from the University of Western Ontario in 1928.  He was the only student in his graduating class who was a member of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Free Masonry. He remained on the medical school staff in London for one year after his graduation.  Dr. Stanley moved from London to Detroit Michigan and he spent one year working at Harper Hospital.

Dr. Stanley married Dorothy Isabel Wickerson on the 1st of September, 1928 in Westminter Township (Middlesex County), Ontario.  Mrs. Stanley was born on the 18th of March 1897 in Westminster Township.  She was the youngest of 11 children born to Henry “Harry” Wickerson and the former Caroline Branston.  Her parents were farmers and her siblings were; Ernest Branston Wickerson, Herbert William Wickerson, Florence “Mable” Wickerson, Lorne Leopold Wickerson, Lottie Edith Wickerson, Clarence Henry Wickerson, Everett Gordon Wickerson, Vivian Edward Wickerson, Roland Dewitt Wickerson and George Arthur Wickerson.  Mrs. Stanley was a nurse.

According to the Orford Story 1827-1977, Dr. Stanley practiced medicine in Highgate, Ontario.  Dr. Stanley’s name appears on birth and death records in Highgate as early as 1929 and through at least until 1932.

Dr. and Mrs. Stanley had a son, James Wickerson Stanley who was born in 1935 (and died in London in 2006).

Dr. Stanley died on the 3rd of August, 1937 and he was buried at Woodland Cemetery in London.  Mrs. Stanley died in 1996 and she was buried beside her husband at the Woodland Cemetery.

*Dr. Stanley’s brother Willard Stanley also became a physician.

*Mrs. Stanley’s brother Clarence Henry Wickerson served with the Canadian Armed Services during WWI.  

Tombstone Photo Credit: Anne F.