The small lakeside community of Invermere, B.C., remained in mourning this weekend following the death of a well-liked and respected physician killed in an accident involving a train.
Dr. Johnson Albert Rose, 56, died last Tuesday while trying to cross the rail tracks near 4th Avenue and Laurier Street in Invermere, a city of about 4,000 between Golden and Cranbrook.
Police said it appears Rose was trying to climb over the couplings of a stationary CPR train when it started to move. He was knocked down and then dragged underneath one of the carriages.
Residents remembered Rose, who worked at the Invermere and District Hospital where he was the chief of staff from 2005 to '09, as a wonderful person and avid outdoorsman.
Dr. Chris Gooch, present chief of staff at Invermere hospital, said Rose enjoyed playing old-timers’ hockey and was involved in the local ski-racing scene.
Rose was wise, experienced and very good at his job, said Gooch. And it will be a challenge for the rest of the medical staff to fill the big shoes he left behind, added Gooch.
“John was a pretty soft-spoken guy but well-respected in the community,” he said. “I’ll certainly remember the way he commanded attention with his soft-spoken wisdom.”
Gooch said Rose previously worked in Cranbrook before opening a practice in Invermere in 2006. He was married and has two sons, aged 19 and 20.
RCMP said the coroner’s office is assisting in the investigation.
Copyright (c) CW Media Inc.