JOHN WOOTEN
GREENVILLE -- Dr. John Lemuel Wooten, 80, died Saturday at his home in Greenville.
A memorial service will be held Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
He was born in Greenville and was the son of William Isler Wooten, a local surgeon, state legislator and co-founder of Greenville's first hospital, and Pattie Bruce Wooten. The family home at that time was in downtown Greenville on the corner of Fifth and Green streets. He attended the local schools and then graduated from McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tenn. While an undergraduate at Duke University, he was a member of the Phi Eta Sigma honor society. He then continued his education at Duke, receiving his M.D. degree in 1947.
Postgraduate training was at Emory University, Baltimore City Hospital, and Kernan's Hospital for Crippled Children. During his years in Baltimore, he met and later married Harriet Lamont Husted. Dr. Wooten then served on active duty during the Korean War as a Captain and Chief of Orthopedics in the Army Medical Corps at Camp Polk, Louisiana, and later at Fort Gordon, Ga. The couple and their first two sons moved back home to Greenville in 1955 after discharge from the Army. There he opened his office on Greene Street and established the first orthopedic surgery practice in eastern North Carolina, helping to mend the lives of his patients over a thirty-five year period. His optimism and compassion was appreciated by many with whom he came in contact.
During his professional career, Dr. Wooten served as Professor and Chief of the Division of Orthopedic Surgery at the East Carolina University School of Medicine, President of the Pitt County Medical Society, and two term member of the Board of Trustees of Pitt County Memorial Hospital. During his tenure as Chief of Staff at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, he was instrumental in negotiating the affiliation agreement between the hospital and the new medical school.
His civic interests included serving as Chairman of the Greenville Housing Authority, President of the Greenville Rotary Club, and as a founding member of the Greenville Foundation. He was an active member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, serving on the vestry and as Senior Warden. With retirement, he pursued his many interests, including the study of history, research in genealogy, sailing, golf and gardening.
He is survived by his wife, Harriet; three sons and their families, John L. Jr., of Greenville and children, Ivan and Anastasia; David and wife, Judy of Morehead City, and their son Daniel, Lamont and wife, Cindy of Greenville, and their children Virginia, Kathryn, and John; one sister, Lillian Bland of Goldsboro; one brother, William Wooten and wife, Donna of Greenville; and a host of nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his youngest son, Henry, who died in 1985.
Visitation will be at the family home at 1807 Circle Drive on Monday evening from 6 until 9.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Harriet and John Wooten Alzheimer's Disease Research Fund, Medical Foundation of ECU, 525 Moye Blvd., Greenville, N.C. 27858, or University Health Systems Hospice Care, P.O. Box 30945, Doctors Park #5, Greenville, N.C. 27833.
Arrangements are by Wilkerson Funeral Home.
(Written & Paid by the Family)
Published in Obituaries on December 5, 2004 12:41 PM