MIDALE — A new book on the life and service of Dr. William Graham Mainprize serves as a companion for the new documentary on the beloved Midale physician.
Remembering Mainprize:The Legacy of a Country Doctor, his People and his Park by Mary Lou Rosengren is expected to be released in the fall. But there has been excitement for the book already, thanks to the premiere in Midale of the new Mainprize documentary during the Saskatchewan Day long weekend.
Rosengren said the idea for the book started when Jack Hilkewich, a co-producer and the director of the Mainprize documentary, reached out to her in the fall of 2022 to say he always wanted to have a book to go with the film. He wanted to know if Rosengren would be interested in putting the book together.
She had to do some research, but much of her time was spent compiling details, thanks to transcripts from the 77 people he interviewed.
"First, I had to go through all of the transcripts and pull out what I felt was the theme of what I wanted to write about, and then save all those and put them together," she said in an interview with SaskToday. "It came together pretty clear in my mind what I wanted."
Some of Hilkewich's interviews were 20-30 minutes long and included information on the subjects' roots, their reasons for settling in the Midale area and their relationship to Mainprize. Those involved with the documentary also wanted to know about their remembrances of the old Dr. Mainprize Park, which was named after the physician and which he took ownership of, and the new Mainprize Regional Park.
"It brought back a lot of memories for me, because I came to Midale when I was 15, so I was very familiar with the old park," said Rosengren.
Love letter to Doc and to his people
Rosengren recalled that Hilkewich said the documentary was a "love letter to Doc and to his people, the people he served for over 50 years." It's also a tribute to having a sense of place, connections to other people, the importance of community and how Mainprize served the Midale area for so long.
Mainprize came to the community in 1911 and continued his practice into the 1970s.
"Thinking that Doc came to Midale when he was 22 years old, I believe, in 1911, things were vastly different back then. It's quite a story, actually, so I tried to tie it together, to tie all those themes together, and then pulled pieces from all those interviews."
The people who were interviewed play a central role in the book, she said. Rosengren said there will also be many photos supplied by the people Hilkewich filmed.
"They brought their photo albums and they went through them. He kept any that were pertinent. I think a lot of them are going to be in the documentary, too," said Rosengren.
She added she was looking forward to watching the Mainprize documentary during its debut, and she said she was curious to see how it aligned with the book.
Mainprize died shortly before Rosengren moved to Midale, so she never had the opportunity to meet him. But she heard a lot about him and knew he had a "larger than life" presence in the community, since he delivered over 5,000 babies during his decades-long practice, and most of the people she met in Midale had some form of a connection to him.
"Of course, I spent a lot of time down at Mainprize park. So, I don't think I understood the significance of it until I got older," said Rosengren.
She believes she has a greater appreciation for him, the people back then and what they did to make sure he reached his appointments.
Community supported their doctor
"This man worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through winter, summer, blizzards. They didn't have power … and he invented his own vehicles to get him to where he needed to go. I'm in awe of what they accomplished, and realized if it wasn't for the community – and he served many communities in this area – but without the support of the people, it wouldn't have happened and he wouldn't have stayed," said Rosengren.
Now it's hard for a community to keep a physician for more than two years, she said.
The interviews also brought forward a lot of new information for her. Rosengren said she learned that in Mainprize's first year, a female patient died while giving birth. It really shook the deeply religious physician, and he went into the U.S. for a few months to work on a farm with a plan to never return.
"But the townspeople and the community came together and found him, and talked him into coming back," she said.
As for the park, she's more familiar with the new Mainprize park, but she believes it doesn't have the same connection for people as the older one, which became quite apparent in the interviews about how people were upset by the flooding of the old attraction.
"Anybody that's in this area is definitely going to have a real appreciation for this, but I think even from a historical standpoint of Saskatchewan history, it's an important story to tell. For those of us who are aware of Doc and know who Doc was, he was larger than life and a hero to people in this area, and that became very apparent in the interviews," said Rosengren.
"There was never a bad word said about the man. He was gentle and had a lot of faith and very devoted to his calling as a physician. And smart. Very smart."
The documentary had its debut Aug. 2 at the Midale Central School. Further showings happened later that day and Aug. 3, also at the school.
Anyone interested in purchasing a copy of the book can email [email protected]. She will need a name, and a contact email or phone number of the purchaser. She will let them know when books are available.
