When thousands of students were forced out of Czechoslovakia by the Communists, 1949, George M. Novotny was a medical student in his native Prague. As a political refugee, he later worked for a year at the U.S. Army base in Salzburg, Austria, before landing, Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia, December 1950. He returned to being a medical student, University of Toronto, where he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, 1957, a year before graduating as M.D. He took further training at Queen’s and McGill universities, specializing in Otolaryngology and was posted to Halifax as a lecturer, Dalhousie University, 1970. There Dr. Novotny practiced his specialty at three hospitals and the Canadian Forces Hospital, Halifax. Between 1974 and 1999, he was Full Professor of Otolaryngology, Dalhousie University, and wrote numerous papers in his specialty. This view catches for posterity Dr. Novotny’s last stitch at the Stadacona Hospital, June 1999, before he and his Austrian born wife, Elfriede, moved to Toronto upon his retirement to be closer to their two daughters and to write a book titled Northern Lights, about his life and career in Canada. [Photo, courtesy Dr. George Novotny]