FREDERICK HUGH Moore, who died last year, was a skilled and respected surgeon whose professional dedication was recognised both in Ireland and Britain. He was a strong family man, a keen rugby player and golfer - even managing a hole in one at the age of 80!
He was born in Bray, Co Wicklow, in 1922 and attended St Columba's College in Rathfarnham before studying medicine at Trinity. He graduated in 1946 and, after various house jobs in Dublin, moved to Liverpool to train in surgery.
While at Trinity he excelled at rugby and captained the senior team. He continued his interest while in Liverpool, and played for Lancashire.
He went to work as a ship's doctor for six months and, on his return, went to work at the Bridge of Earn Hospital in Scotland.
It was there that he decided to pursue a career in orthopaedics. He was elected as a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh.
He continued to play rugby as a prop forward for Perthshire Academicals, and lined out for the north of Scotland against the All Blacks in 1953.
He moved to Dundee Royal Infirmary in 1955, where he met his future wife, Elma Rankine, who was a resident in anaesthetics. They married in 1960 at St Andrews, where Elma had attended university.
A chance meeting with the now deceased John O'Connell in 1960 in Washington at an orthopaedic conference led him to take up a new consultant post in orthopaedics in Cork later that year.
Orthopaedics was in its infancy in Cork at the time, and practitioners were extremely busy due to an outbreak of polio in 1956. Fred took a keen interest in the musculoskeletal problems related to polio and in paediatrics. He set up a highly successful screening programme for the early detection and treatment of congenital dislocation of the hip, and of club foot.
He was appointed part-time lecturer in surgery in UCC Medical School. He was also involved in the national training programme in orthopaedic surgery. His real interest was in paediatric orthopaedics. Fred had a remarkable ability to relate to children and their parents.
He was a man of immense common sense who had an outstanding aptitude for choosing the correct management of the individual patient, even if it meant advising against surgical treatment.
Before leaving Scotland, Fred had taken up golf. He became a member of Cork Golf Club and represented it in various competitions. His most glorious memory in golf was that hole in one he achieved at age 80 at New Delhi Golf Club. He was an active member of the British Orthopaedics Travelling Club and he and Elma enjoyed many trips.
He was also president of the Irish Orthopaedic Club, a council member of the British Orthopaedic Association, chairman of the Cork branch of the Trinity College Association, chairman of Blackrock Tennis Club and a member of St Michael's church choir.
His death last June after a brief illness has robbed his wife Elma, son Donald, daughters Caroline and Linda, of a great husband, father and family man.
- JC