Born on a farm in mid-Wales and the youngest of eight children, Thomas Goronwy Evans (“Goronowy”) left for London at the age of 16 to train at St Bartholomew's Hospital.
Arriving at Paddington, and speaking only a little English, with suitcase in hand he walked to his digs in Elephant and Castle. He enrolled at Barts giving his correct date of birth, and it wasn't until he'd completed the first term that the college realised he was too young to be accepted. He was only allowed to stay on when he pointed out that he had done well in his exams and it was the college's mistake and not his.
During training he experienced the London Blitz and evacuation to Cambridge. His months at Queens' College were enjoyable, but life in London was not always easy. Medical students worked as first aiders during the war, and during one bombing raid over the city he cycled down Cheapside, first aid bag over his shoulder, to tend to casualties. As he arrived at the bombed building a policeman stood at the entrance gazing up at the night sky with the bombs raining down. Loading a syringe with morphine he groped for the leg of the casualty and heard a voice in the dark shout “Oi! That's my leg!” and narrowly missed injecting the wrong person.
As a junior doctor in Bradford he met his future wife, Joan, a theatre sister. He was sent to the Middle East and worked as an army surgeon in Palestine and Egypt during 1946-8. They married after returning to England in 1948 and had their three children from 1952 to 1957.
His first paid work after his house jobs was in a rural practice in North Wales as a locum. When asked if he could drive, he confidently assured them he could and, for the first time, took the wheel of a car.
From 1954 to 1990 he worked as a general surgeon in Morriston, Swansea General, and then in Singleton and Llanelli Hospitals in Swansea, retiring completely at the age of 75. His career predated the specialty surgery we know today, and he could turn his hand to almost anything from aortic aneurysms to varicose veins. During his early years in Swansea he soon cleared his waiting lists setting a brisk pace with full operating lists.
He worked in the Royal Army Medical Corps with the Territorial Army until he retired as lieutenant colonel.
He was a down to earth, good humoured man with a steady determination to work for his family. He was widowed in 1970 and in 1972 married his second wife, Mary. To the end he remained optimistic and interested in life.
In his late 50ss he developed rheumatoid arthritis, and in retirement he became increasingly disabled. He travelled widely, taking his last cruise between hospital admissions this year. Unable to walk far, he determined to keep himself fit with a daily swim until nine months before he died from the cumulative effects of old age.
He leaves three daughters from his first marriage; his second wife, Mary; eight grandchildren; and sister Margaret, now 90.