Obituary of Galen Homer Coffin

Galen Homer Coffin was born on July 28, 1920 in Lafayette, Indiana to Day Dean and Edyth Gruber Coffin. He died peacefully in his sleep on February 3, 2012 at his home in Gresham, Oregon. Galen lived in Indiana and Massachusetts until he was 4 years old when his parents went as missionaries to Nanning, South China where his father was a doctor in a remote hospital. He was home schooled until he began attending Far Eastern Academy in Shanghai, China, graduating from the 12th grade in 1939. While there he met Beth Armstrong and in 1942 they were married and together raised 2 children. He received his B.S. in Physics from Walla Walla College in College Place, Washington in 1943. In 1948 he graduated from medical school at Loma Linda University in California, interned at the White Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California and then worked in Camario, California while waiting to take the Canadian Medical Boards. From 1950 until 1976 he served as a missionary physician at Youngberg Memorial Hospital in Singapore, taking a leave of absence from 1966-1969 to complete his anesthesiology residency at OHSU in Portland, Oregon. In 1976 he left Singapore and joined the anesthesia staff at Kaiser Sunnyside Hospital in Clackamas, Oregon, where he remained until his retirement in 1986. In his retirement years he served three times as a volunteer physician in Malawi, Africa; Palau, Micronesia and on the clinic boat, “Canvas Back”, in the Chuk Islands. He was active in his church and enjoyed flying his radio controlled glider, playing ping pong, camping, hiking, bird watching, gardening and puttering in his workshop. He is survived by his wife, Beth, of Gresham, Oregon, daughter Kathy Marshall of Salem, Oregon, son David of San Bernardino, California, brother Harold G. Coffin of Calhoun, Georgia, 4 grandsons and 2 great grandchildren. A memorial service will be February 18, 2012 at 3:00pm at Sunnyside SDA Church 10501 SE Market St., Portland, OR 97216. Arrangements by Crown Memorial Center Milwaukie.