Beloved patriarch, pediatrician, medical volunteer, around the world sailor

George H. Latham, born into a military family in San Antonio, Texas in 1935, died August 29.

His parents were Margaret and George C. Latham. He was 3 years old when his father died in a plane crash. His mother remarried to U.S. Army officer Jim Novy, and over the intervening years the family moved numerous times.

George enlisted in the Air Force, married and had a son at an early age. These events seemed to indicate that he was headed for a predictable life, but they were only the scaffolding for an extraordinary life that unfolded in a variety of unpredictable ways. “During his life George undertook many amazing adventures, but what is more notable than those was his continual search for personal growth and change, as well as his ability to generously share his experiences for the benefit of others,” his family shared.

He studied and worked in electrical engineering in Maryland and in San Jose, California, as well as taking pre-med classes. In 1961 he decided to pursue medical training and moved his family from San Jose to New Orleans to attend Tulane University School of Medicine. After graduating in 1965, he did his pediatric residency with the U.S. Army at Fort Lewis, Washington, where another son and a daughter were born.

The family then moved to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, where he was the chief of pediatrics at DeWitt Army Hospital. He resigned after 10 years in the military and enhanced his scope of practice by accepting a fellowship in child development and pediatric neurology at the Oregon Health & Sciences University in Portland, where he also became a clinical associate professor.

Subsequently he and a colleague started the Mid-Valley Children’s Clinic in Albany, Oregon. Many Albany families will remember him for his competency and care as their family pediatrician over those 17 years.

In Albany, he collaborated with the courts, law enforcement, and community agencies to establish services, advocacy and protection for children and families enmeshed in child abuse. After finding his own sobriety, he worked for many years to help others deal with their addictions. This led to becoming a founder and partner of Milestones Family Recovery Program in Corvallis, Oregon. He helped to ensure that Milestones was a comprehensive drug and alcohol treatment program that involves and emphasizes the whole family, including a program which supports mothers to live at the center with their young children.

His lifelong wish to sail expressed itself in learning to navigate small boats. After owning a string of successively larger vessels, he decided to build his own boat from a bare hull and explore the world in it. In 1980 he moved a 42-foot sailboat hull into the family backyard in Albany over his wife Ellen’s garden. He worked steadily on the boat in the evenings and weekends for eight years, finishing the inside and installing all the rigging and electronics. He also crewed on long distance ocean races and learned, then taught, celestial navigation. In 1988 he and his wife set off from Newport, Oregon on their yacht Wind Dancer for what was purported to be perhaps a yearlong cruise in the Pacific Ocean.

Twenty-four years later, they had circumnavigated the earth one-and-a-half times, visited more than 50 countries, and sailed 106,000 nautical miles. During their sailing adventures, the couple touched many lives: volunteering, working and connecting with people from around the world. They often used their medical and audiological training to provide treatment alongside healthcare workers in remote villages.

In his 60s, he earned a master’s degree in tropical health at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, specializing in malaria prevention and treatment. The couple took jobs in Australia, American Samoa, and New Zealand. In 2004, aboard Wind Dancer, they survived the tsunami that swept through Thailand and the Indian Ocean, and he provided much needed emergency medical aid in Thailand and in Indonesia.

While pursuing sailing adventures and learning about other cultures, he also continued to explore and extend his personal spiritual knowledge. In his later years he became a practicing Buddhist.

In 2013 the couple decided to return to New Zealand, move off their boat and settle in their land-based home in Whangarei. Wherever they found themselves in the world, they not only stayed connected to family and friends, but also built strong community ties. They frequently welcomed family and friends to join them on their sailing adventures. Every year except one during the COVID pandemic they traveled to the family cabin on Lake Coeur d’Alene in Idaho to enjoy time with their now extended family. “George delighted in conversations with friends and family,” his family said. “He inquired about their lives, always listened thoughtfully and was willing to provide support and guidance when asked.”

The couple moved from New Zealand back to the United States in 2023 to be closer to their family, settling at Claremont Manor.

“He died as he had lived, surrounded by those who loved him,” his family added. “He will be remembered for the resilience and joy with which he lived his life as well as his kindness, patience, generosity, gentleness and compassion.”

He is survived by his wife Ellen McNeil; children, Craig, Eric and Katrina; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.