The Coast News, Nov. 9, 2012

B2 THE COAST NEWS
NOV. 9, 2012
Volunteer has golden touch
By Christina Macone-Greene
CARLSBAD — Maxine
McIntosh eyes the numerous
collectibles near her.
No, she’s not in an
antique store. Instead, she’s
inside a mak eshift storage
room located in her garage
deciding which collectible
will be listed next on eBay
toward Hospice of the North
Coast proceeds.
To date, McIntosh, a
Carlsbad resident and volunteer
for Hospice of the North
Coast Resale Shop, has raised
more than $200,000 in the last
decade on eBay.
Fondly called the “eBay
Queen,” McIntosh’s smart
business ways has earned her
the 2012 Volunteer of the
Year award.
McIntosh will be honored
at the upcoming North
County Philanthropy Council
Luncheon in November.
McIntosh is humbled by
the recognition.
“I was pleased, but really,
I’m a private person and I
don’t wave my flag,” she said.
“I just like to work and help.”
McIntosh has v olunteered
with Hospice of the
North Coast for 20 years.
They came into her life when
her mother was terminally ill
with cancer.
“Hospice of the North
Coast was wonderful because
I had never been around anyone
that was terminal,” said
McIntosh, adding how the volunteers,
nurses and social
workers were fantastic.
Instinctively, McIntosh
knew she would volunteer for
Maxine McIntosh, named 2012 Volunteer of the Year, stands next to her
auctioned eBay items. She has raised more than $200,000 for Hospice
of the North Coast and will be honored at this month’s North County
Philanthropy Council Luncheon. Courtesy photo
them one day. And she did.
Jean Cole, the manager
of the Hospice Resale Shop in
Encinitas, said that McIntosh
has served in a variety of roles
at the shop since her volunteering
started.
In addition to manning
the eBay site, she continues to
work at the shop a couple
days a week.
“To me, Maxine has
always been an inspiration,”
Cole said. “She’s calm in a crisis,
always willing to help, and
a friend to all she meets.”
When describing
McIntosh, Cole said she’s
energetic, enthusiastic,
knowledgeable, kind and generous.
McIntosh decided eBay
was a perfect avenue to help
raise more funds for Hospice
of the North Coast.
“I kept seeing these
beautiful collectibles that we
couldn’t sell at a resale shop
for what they were worth,”
she said, noting how Cole had
opened an eBa y account
months before but wasn’t
used yet.
Cole warned her that
eBay would be a b ig job but
McIntosh continued to beg
her until she gave in.
When she got the green
light, McIntosh’s son, a computer
analyst, came down
from Oregon for an eBay tutorial.
And she caught on in no
time at all.
On average, McIntosh
spends about 20 to 25 hours
per week on her eBay responsibilities,
which includes taking
photos of the items, writ-
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ing the descriptions, communicating
with potential buyers,
billing and shipping the
sold pieces.
“For those who think
retirement translates to resting
on the couch and watching
television, come meet
Maxine,” Cole said.
“Apparently, she didn’t
receive that memo.”
McIntosh has sold nearly
4,000 items on eBay in the last
decade. From Waterford,
Lenox, Wedgewood, jewelry,
St. John fashion, to limited
editions, McIntosh knows this
eBay business lik e no one
else.
Just recently, McIntosh
said, she sold a 1902 Edison
phonograph for over $1,500.
“It doesn’t take a rocket
science to see Maxine is an
extraordinary woman,” said
Yvette Williams, publicity
and events manager at
Hospice of the North Coast.
“Her many years volunteering
at our resale shop have
been genuine, altruistic acts
of kindness, and we are the
better because of it.”
McIntosh said she never
dreamed the eBa y auction
business would have become
so profitable for Hospice of
the North Coast.
Modestly, she said volunteering
has given her something
to fill her time.
“Hospice has given me
more than I have ever given
it,” McIntosh said.
“It has given me a group
of friends who are wonderful,
caring people.”
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Doctor to retire after 37 years
By Tracy Moran
ENCINITAS — Dr .
James Quigley may have
practiced medicine f or
another dozen years if not
for a conversation he had
with an older dentist.
“He asked me when I
was going to r etire,” said
Quigley. “I said I didn’ t
know if I had enough
money, and I’m gi ving him
all these other r easons (to
keep working) and he sa ys,
‘Stop. If you don’t have
enough money by now,
shame on you. But probably
whatever you have is
enough.’”
But what the dentist
said next resonated with
Quigley.
“He told me, ‘What you
don’t know is ho w much
time you have.’” As Quigley
recalled this statement, he
became quiet. Late afternoon
sunlight slanted
through his office blinds at
North Coast Family Medical
Group.
“He made me start
thinking about it,” Quigley
continued, “about how hard
we work. But a lot of guys
start changing physically.
I’ll be 64 ne xt year and I
keep thinking those next 10
years are a big deal.”
He wants to enjo y
those years with his wife,
Denise, his children and his
granddaughter, he says,
adding he would like to
spend more time backpacking,
biking and fl y fishing.
He’d like to learn Spanish,
take photography classes,
travel. And, he said, “I’ve
got a few IOUs to the Good
Lord, so I’ll do some charity
work.”
So after 37 y ears as a
doctor — 30 of those serving
North County — Quigle y is
retiring at the end of the
year.
“But I don’t think I’ll be
sitting around watching
daytime TV,” he joked. “If
you just go fr om 50 to 60
hours every week to z ero,
that would not be good for a
guy like me.” He’ll also be
busy with the medical
research company he
opened in the 1990s,
Encompass Medical
Research North Coast.
“I’m a principal investigator,”
he explained,
researching treatments for
diseases like diabetes.
While his schedule will
be full, his patients will
surely miss him, as they’ve
already begun expressing to
him. Shortly after Quigle y
sent out the announcement
of his retirement, calling it
“the most challenging letter
I have ever written in m y
career,” he began receiving
notes from his patients.
“Thank you for all the
help during the last 30
years,” reads one. Others
mention how much they
value his a bility to listen
and put them at ease.
Tall and athletic with
an easy smile, Quigley’s
calm demeanor has r eassured
generations of
patients. And his car e for
them is con veyed in that
retirement letter: “I can
never explain in w ords the
honor it has been to care for
Dr. James Quigley will be retiring at the end of the year after 37 years
practicing medicine. He attributes his plan for retirement to a conversation
he had with an older dentist. Photo by Tracy Moran
each of you as patients and
friends. You have shared
your deepest secr ets and
hardships, your best stories
and funny moments, and
most importantly, you have
entrusted me with y our
health. I have always taken
that privilege and honor
seriously and I am so v ery
grateful for it all.”
In addition to his
patients, he’s served the
medical community as
chairman of the Physicians
Health and Well-Being
Committee at Scripps
Memorial Hospital
Encinitas since 1983. But
he leaves a legac y beyond
the medical comm unity.
He’s also a businessman
who was one of the
What you
don’t know is
how much time
you have.” Older dentist
founders of the medical
complex at 477 N. El
Camino Real in Encinitas,
an iconic comple x fondly
known to many residents as
the “brick buildings.”
“I was one of thr ee
managing partners for the
group that built this, ” he
says. “We had the vision for
this center. We called it a
hospital without beds …
It’s got the sur gery center
and full-service radiology,
the pharmacist and all the
primary care doctors, and
lots of others.”
Having that mind f or
business is important f or
doctors today within their
medical practice, he says.
“There’s a business
that doctors need to tak e
into account,” he said.
“Before it was more, ‘Let’s
do whatever we can and
figure out the pr oblem.’”
That likely meant spending
a lot of mone y. “So you
have to be a ware of what
you’re doing as f ar as how
much you’re spending,
which is good … Evidencebased
medicine drives a lot
of decisions now. That’s
good and it’s bad.
Sometimes it takes away
the instinct to do a certain
thing. But I’m pretty happy
about where medicine is
going right now. Would I
recommend my children do
it? I w ould. I love the job.
It’s not like I’m lea ving
with any unhappiness at
all.”
What other car eer, he
wondered, would “allow a
mailman’s son to spend his
entire professional life listening
to people’s most
cherished and sometimes
frightening stories and be
asked to help find a solution
to their problems?”
Quigley admitted that
“it was often a daunting
task” in his early years.
“It frequently left me
with self-doubt if I was
doing it right,” he added. “I
guess as I look back, that
fear is what kept me on my
toes, keenly aware that I
didn’t want to scr ew up
because there was so much
on the line for everyone. As
the years passed that worry
gave way to a sense of calm
that is the confidence of
having seen so much. I certainly
gave it my best and I
really do think most of m y
patients and my fellow
physicians feel the same
way.”
Certainly his friend
and colleague of 30 y ears,
Dr. James Hay, feels that
way.
“(Dr. Quigley) is one of
the warmest and kindest
men I know,” said Hay,
adding that he consider s
himself fortunate to ha ve
Quigley as his personal
physician. “He’s almost
unflappable.”
The strong bond the
two share is appar ent in
the way each speaks of the
other, and it’s surely contributed
to the success of
the medical group they
helped found, North Coast
Family Medical Group.
Shortly, Quigley will
embark on the ne xt phase
of his life.
“The career goes fast,”
he said. “All of a sud den
you turn around and it’s 30
years later. But I just figure
the next 10 or 20 years is
going to go just as f ast, so
I’ll grab hold of the ne xt
stage of life and get going
on it.”