Bob Burrows began working on the West Coast as a minister and captain of a United Church mission boat based at Ocean Falls in 1960. From 1981 to 1984 he was Chair of the national United Church Committee responsible for all mission hospitals across Canada. He received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Toronto in 2001.

While living in Vancouver he published Healing in the Wilderness: A History of the United Church Mission Hospitals (Harbour, 2004).

Hope Lives Here: A History of Vancouver's First United Church (Harbour, 2010) is his account of an institution that was founded in 1885 and provides care to residents of the Downtown Eastside - Canada's poorest postal code.


NAME: Burrows, Robert Alastair (Bob)

DATE OF BIRTH: September 1, 1934

PLACE OF BIRTH: Scarborough, Ontario

EMPLOYMENT OTHER THAN WRITING:

Clergy, United Church of Canada from 1959

Minister/Captain of "M.V. Thomas Crosby IV" based at Ocean Falls, BC 1960-1962
Minister/Pilot of George Pringle aircraft based at Alert Bay, BC 1962-1966
Minister, First United Church, Vancouver 1966-1974
Commissioner, BC Police Commission 1974 - 1978
Director of Social Planning & Research, United Way of the Lower Mainland, 1978-1980
Social Development Officer, Federal Secretary of State Department (Northern BC) 1980-1984
Minister, Shaughnessy Heights United Church, Vancouver, 1984-1986
Minister, Wilson Heights United Church, Vancouver, 1986-1990
Minister, St. David's United Church, West Vancouver, 1990-1999
Minister, Capilano United Church, North Vancouver, 2000-2003

Review of the author's work by BC Studies:
Healing in the Wilderness: A History of the United Church Mission Hospitals

BOOKS:

Hope Lives Here: A History of Vancouver's First United Church (Harbour, 2010) 978-1-55017-520-2 $24.95
Healing in the Wilderness: A History of the United Church Mission Hospitals (Harbour, 2004) 1-55017-338-3 : $26.95.
Hope Lives Here: A History of Vancouver's First United Church (Harbour, 2010) 1-55017-520-3 : $24.95.

[BCBW 2010] "Health" "Religion"