Wilton H. Bunch

Wilton Herbert Bunch was born January 12, 1935, in Walla Walla WA and grew up in nearby College Place. His father, Walter, was the first mayor of College Place and owned a service station. His mother, Winnifred (Gibson) Bunch, was a nurse. He graduated from Walla Walla University and attended Loma Linda School of Medicine. After his internship he joined the Public Health Service and provided medical care for the Crowe and Northern Cheyenne reservations in Montana. He then obtained a PhD in Physiology and completed an orthopedic residency at the University of Minnesota.

He joined the faculty at the University of Virginia and was named the Barnes Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and co-Director of the Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital. At the recommendation of Charlie Heck MD, he was named chairman of the Department of Orthopedics at Loyola University Chicago in 1975. During his 10 years at Loyola, he developed an outstanding orthopedic residency program, wrote a million dollar grant that was funded through the Department of Veterans Affairs for a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Laboratory, and obtained an MBA from the University of Chicago. He also served as president of the Scoliosis Research Society and as president of the Association of Orthopedic Chairmen. He was a prolific author and actively involved in many orthopedic organizations.

Aspiring to take what he had learned as a department chairman to a wider audience he was named Dean of Medical Affairs at the University of Chicago in 1985, and subsequently named Dean of the University of South Florida School of Medicine in 1988. It was at this point that Wilton realized that Henry Kissinger’s observation about the viciousness of university politics was true. And he did not possess (nor did he want to) the Machiavellian instincts needed to survive, and so he resigned.

He became Medical Director of Lakeshore Hospital in Birmingham AL, but soon realized that the goals of corporate medicine were incompatible with his personal ethics. After a period of reflection, he attended the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley CA with a concentration in Ethics. He was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1997 and graduated from the GTU.

During his time in Berkeley, he suffered an extremely serious medical complication when he was given infected albumin after a procedure to treat esophageal reflux. He required several years to recuperate. Having regained his strength, he returned to teaching and was named Professor of Ethics at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham AL and subsequently moved across campus joining the philosophy department and teaching ethics in the Honors College of Samford University. He also served as a priest associate in churches in Birmingham including The Church of the Holy Apostles and Grace Episcopal Church in Woodlawn.

Wilton had a lifelong interest in music. In his late 60’s he learned to play the double bass so he could play in the Samford University Orchestra. He also endowed both the Samford String Quartet and a scholarship in the low strings in honor of his daughter Brenda. He loved to ski and sail with his family. He was a prolific gardener who enjoyed giving his vegetables away.

He took most pride in being a teacher. Whether it was in a university classroom or in Sunday school, he worked hard to engage his listeners, and to integrate new ideas and new techniques into his teaching. He told his students that his goal was to get then to think and to questions the assumptions in all the decision they make. He developed relationships with his students that lasted his lifetime. Students called and wrote him frequently, asking a question about an ethical conundrum, recommending a book, or just checking in. His former residents in the Department of Orthopedics honored him with the Wilton Bunch Lectureship in Medical Ethics in Orthopaedic Surgery at Loyola in 2012.

On his last day of teaching at Samford in 2015, the professor who used the classroom next stood patiently with her students outside the door. When the door failed to open, she gently knocked and peeked in. All the students were crying and hugging Dr. Bunch, sad to see him retire from teaching.

In his retirement Wilton became very interested in genealogy writing 5 books about the Bunch and Gibson families. He was most amazed to learn from his cousin Mark Bunch that he shard a common ancestor with Barak Obama’s mother. He was a wonderful storyteller and felt it was very important to keep family lore alive.

He is survived by his wife Vicki, his son Brent and his grandchildren Owen and Charlotte. He is preceded in death by his son Wesley and daughter Brenda. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to GraceWorks 5712 1st Ave N, Birmingham AL. Final plans for services in Birmingham and in Chicago are pending.

Funeral will be Saturday, July 17th at 2:00 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church, 5712 1st Avenue North,

Birmingham, AL 35212.