(25 Oct. 1892-2 June 1989), physician. (Dominic J. Dolan, D.J. Dolan, Dr Dolan) Born at Pakenham, Ont., of Irish descent. Parents: John Dolan and his wife Ellen Boddy. Dr Dolan graduated in medicine from Queen’s University, 1921. Earlier, he had taught public school at Dalhousie Mills in 1915– which is said to have been his introduction to GC, where in the summer of 1921 (Glengarry News 5 Aug. 1921), he began a medical practice in Alexandria. It was a practice which was to last there for more than 53 years. A tireless, conscientious man, Dr Dolan built up a large practice with patients drawn not just from Alexandria but the townships around it, which in the days of house calls meant much travelling, often in the winter presumably by horse-and- cutter over the unplowed country roads. Dr Dolan was medical officer of health for Alexandria from 1930 to 1944. Also, he was coroner for GC from 1931 to a date in the 1960s. He was often mentioned, as other doctors were, in the pages of the Glengarry News, and his name will perhaps be particularly familiar to researchers in the microfilms of the paper because his role as coroner associated him over a long period of time with the investigation of accidental or suspicious deaths. Like other professional men of the time and place, he found it possible to combine his professional life with what must seem to hard-pressed professionals of a later date a truly baffling amount of public service over a wide range of fields. He served on the Alexandria town council, and ran unsuccessfully for mayor against J. A. Laurin in 1928. Dr Dolan was also president of the Alexandria Curling Club, a trustee on the Separate School Board, a member and chairman of the Board of Trustees of Alexandria High School, and president of the Ontario School Trustees and Ratepayers Association. Ready to give a hand to most community projects in Alexandria, he was, however, less likely than some prominent citizens of the town to get involved in the promotion of sports activities. Dr Markson was the physician far more likely to be recruited to assist some sports team or project.

     Dr Dolan was active in the Knights of Columbus. He was created a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope John XXIII. (Glengarry News 15 Nov. 1962)

     Interested in politics, Dr Dolan served as president of the GC Liberal Asociation. He ran unsuccessfully as Liberal candidate for GC against Osie Villeneuve, Conservative, in the provincial elections of 22 Nov. 1951 and 9 June 1955. (GN 2 & 23 Nov. 1951, GN 9 June 1955) Contemporary gossip said that Dr Dolan was deeply hurt in his defeat by what he saw as his rejection by the people among whom he had practised medicine so many years and that he seriously contemplated at this time re-establishing his medical practice elsewhere. Many observers thought, also, that there was now little opportunity for any non-French Canadian to become the representative for GC. In fact, Dr Dolan continued his Alexandria practice and retired in 1974 a few days after his 82nd birthday. (GN 24 Oct. 1974) At a joint dinner of the Richelieu Club and the Lions Club in Alexandria at which he was honoured on his retirement, he recalled the hard times of a doctor in the Depression and (as his speech was reported in the Glengarry News 31 Oct. 1974) “he had warm words for this part of the country which is a miniature of Canada in its mixture of the two major ethnic groups. An Irishman like himself could see hopeful indications of a spirit of unity and brotherhood here, that promised a bright future for Canada.” He left GC on retirement, but continued to revisit. Angus H. McDonell noted in his obituary of Henry D. Duggan that among those who attended Duggan’s funeral at St. Finnan’s in 1988 was “a lifetime Alexandria friend and South Lancaster [summer home] neighbour, Dr. D.J. Dolan who is in the shadows of his 100th birthday.” Dr Dolan lived in North Bay during at least part of his retirement. He died at Riverside Hospital, Ottawa. Burial was at St. Finnan’s cemetery, Alexandria. He was married in 1922 to Georgina McAuley (marriage, Glengarry News 22 Oct. 1922). (five children)

     For the conditions and expectations relating to medical practice in Alexandria in Dr Dolan’s period, see also his long-time contemporary in Alexandria, Dr M. Markson.

Glengarry News 7 June 1989 (by Angus H. McDonell) * biog. detail in article on his 90th birthday, GN 20 Oct. 1982 (portrait) * Roderick Lewis 96 * gravestone, St. Finnan’s cemetery * Ostrom 124 * GN 10 April 1931, appointed coroner for GC and district medical officer for CNR * GN 28 June 1935, active at testimonial event for retiring high school principal Donald MacKay * Standard Freeholder 15 Nov. 1947, heads C.N.I.B. in GC * GN 13 Feb. 1953, in speech to Kinsmen recalls TB as a scourge in GC * GN 18 Nov. 1954, Dr Bernard Villeneuve succeeds him as town council representative on high school board * GN 14 April 1955, given sketch of himself for services as president of Ontario School Trustees and Ratepayers Association * Glengarry News 28 April 1955, G.G. Aubry to succeed him as president of the Glengarry Liberal Association * GN 17 Oct. 1968, honoured at testimonial dinner, Alexandria * ”Dr. Dolan Says Adieu,” GN 28 Nov. 1974: his farewell letter on occasion of his retirement * GN 21 Oct. 1981, honoured at Queen’s University * recollected, praised in letter by newspaperman Gerald O. Saxton, GN 5 May 1993