In Bethune, these characteristics were the seeds of a battlefront surgeon, communist, humanitarian, inventor, teacher and artist.

Dr. Bethune spent the last two years of his life in China, serving as a teacher and as a surgeon of the communist Eighth Route Army.

Malcolm Bethune became the minister of Knox Church in 1889 and, a year later, his son Norman was born in the manse.

[2] In August 2002, then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson visited the house and also unveiled a bronze statue of Dr. Bethune erected by the Town of Gravenhurst.

The statue is located on Gravenhurst's main street, alongside the notable Opera House.