B. Joseph Christian, MD

GREENSBORO — B. Joseph Christian, M.D. passed away peacefully on June 29, 2011 at Beacon Place, following an extended illness. "Doc" as he was affectionately known, was born in Rocky Mount in 1923, and graduated from Wake Forest College and the Bowman Gray School of Medicine. He attended Notre Dame Midshipman School and was a commissioned officer in the United States Navy during WWII.

For over 34 years, Doc had an extraordinary career as a beloved family doctor whose business in life was to know disease and how to treat it. Doc had a great love of the outdoors. He and his faithful bird dogs spent many hours hunting quail, ducks, and geese. As an avid sportsman, he participated in speed boat racing, sport fishing for marlin for over twenty years, and even won five international game fishing trophies. He was a Civil War history buff and co-founder of the Guilford Gray's musket team. A true Renaissance man, he was an accomplished musician, sculptor and humorist.

Doc loved to roam the woods and streams looking for native plants and searching for "something to find." He envisioned and developed a 21 acre bog forest (a former flood plain) into what has been described as the "Jewel in the City Park System". For twenty years he and his "bog buddies" collected and relocated over 16,000 native plant specimens to the "Bog Garden". The Bog Garden won the "Project of the Year" from the National Arbor Day Society in 1996 and its Serenity Falls Waterfall was completed in 2006.

One of Doc's favorite sayings was "Life is what you put into it...not what you take out."

Dr. Christian is survived by his wife of 57 years, Anne Bunn Christian; children, Kathryn Christian Bender, of Chapel Hill, NC, Terry Christian and husband Greg Johns of Summerfield, NC, Paula Jeanne Hodges and husband Johnny of Greensboro, NC, and Stephen Joseph Christian and wife Susan of Simpsonville, SC. His surviving grandchildren are Emily Bender, Alex Bender, Austin Johns, Anne-Christian Johns, Michael Hodges, Brian Hodges, Jeanne Hodges and Joe Christian and Will Christian. He is also survived by nephew Matt Christian and niece Cynthia Carter.

A memorial service will be held Friday, July 1 at 3 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Greensboro. The family will receive friends following the service in the church atrium.

Please direct memorials to The Bog Garden, c/o Greensboro Beautiful, P.O. Box 3136, Greensboro, NC 27402 or to Beacon Place, 2500 Summit Avenue, Greensboro, NC 27405. Hanes Lineberry N. Elm Chapel is assisting the family.