Roy and Marlene Phillips’ grandson underwent open heart surgery just one week after being born at Penticton Regional Hospital.

Max Tremblay is now an active 10-year-old and one of key reasons why Roy and Marlene have donated $30,000 to the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation to help supply medical equipment for the new Patient Care Tower at PRH.

Max was transferred to BC Children’s Hospital after being diagnosed with a heart problem shortly after his birth in Penticton.

“He was flown down the day he was born,” Roy recalled.

The Phillips credit Penticton cardiologist Dr. Tom Ashton who confirmed the baby’s heart condition after a member of the hospital’s cardiac team diagnosed the ailment.

Roy also experienced his own health problems dating back to 1989 when he, too, underwent heart surgery.

“We went up to Mara Lake for a holiday,” he said. “On the way back, I was getting the most excruciating pains I had ever experienced.”

Doctors at PRH diagnosed Roy’s heart difficulties and immediately flew him by air ambulance to Vancouver for a quadruple bypass operation at St. Paul’s Hospital.  More surgery was required two years later.

Since then, some 25 years have passed and Roy is still going strong.

“Everything was looked after so well. I was just lucky to be alive,” he said. “It was a shock for me because I never ever thought I would have any heart trouble.”

Marlene noted that’s another major factor in their decision to donate to the SOS Medical Foundation’s $20-million campaign.

“He’s very thankful for all the care he’s had – at both hospitals,” she said.

Roy and Marlene both grew up in Saskatchewan.  Marlene was born in Yorkton, while Roy was born in Saskatoon.

He moved with his family to Regina from 1939 to 1946 while his father served in the army during the Second World War. They moved back to Saskatoon when he was 14.

Roy went on to enroll in the pre-medical program at the University of Saskatchewan, but later opted for engineering instead.  He went on to work for General Motors and then an automotive chemical firm. They relocated to Kelowna in 1966.

Marlene noted she and Roy met in high school.  “We started going together at the end of 1950 (at age 18),” she said.

The couple got married in Saskatoon in 1954 and moved to the Okanagan 12 years later. They have three grown children (son Rob and daughters Jacquie and Sandee), plus nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Roy credits Marlene for her ongoing support through the years.

“She was a real inspiration for me to keep going,” he said.

The family moved to Penticton in 1977, two years after Roy took over ownership of the Grove Motors auto dealership on Front Street which he renamed Phillips Chev Olds.

“Right off the top of my head, I said: ‘I want to buy it,’” Roy recalled. “I had always wanted to be a dealer.”

Marlene also worked in the front office. The dealership was relocated to a brand new home on Westminster Avenue in 1978 which Roy continued to own until he sold it in the late 1980s.

Roy Phillips remains active in the community and is a long-time member of the Rotary Club of Penticton. He also served for 28 years with the Community Futures Development Corporation, most of that time as chair of their loans committee – and for 20 years as a director on the Valley First Credit Union board.

Construction of the $325-million expansion of Penticton Regional Hospital will get underway this spring.  The Foundation is raising $20 million for all the medical equipment required.