John Henry Early Woltz

Throughout his long and active life, John Henry Early Woltz retained his enthusiastic spirit, and if there is any single event in his life that was characteristic of him, it was his election, in 1932, at the nadir of the Great Depression, as a cheerleader at UNC Chapel Hill. He was born in Gastonia, N.C. on April 14, 1914, the first son of Albert Edgar and Daisy Caroline Mackie Woltz. His brother, William K. Woltz, of Mt. Airy, N.C., was born a year later and the two remained best friends for over eithty-five years.

John was raised in Gastonia and earned the Eagle Scout Award when he was 16. Later he served as counselor and as director for Boy Scout camps and as naturalist and doctor for Camp Sea Gull, a YMCA facility. In 1932, he entered UNC Chapel Hill and joined Sigma Chi. That year, he suffered an automobile accident returning to school from Christmas break and spent two years in recovery, much of it at Baltimore General Hospital, before graduating from Chapel Hill in 1939 in Chemistry. Inspired by one of the neurology specialists in Baltimore, he completed UNC’s training program in medicine and then entered the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. John also did his residency at Penn in Ob-Gyn, and subsequently joined the Bradford Clinic in Charlotte, where he practiced forty-four years.

As hundreds of his former patients will attest, John was a superb physician, not only in his relationships with his patients, in which he took a personal interest, but he also demonstrated a professional curiosity that often led to improvements in the state of the art. Many of the surgery and fertility techniques and procedures that John learned and perfected were regarded as innovative in the 1950’s and 1960’s but are considered standard practice today.

In 1942, he married Mary Leigh Scales of Greensboro, and they had three daughters: Molly (Carrison), Betsy (Gregory), and Lucy (Preyer). John participated in dozens of sports and activities that included travel, sailing, swimming, water skiing, snow skiing, hiking, and golf. For each of them but one, dancing, he contributed as much energy as skill. However, at dancing, he was a master – graceful, strong, and agile –and could still “Charleston” as recently as a few years ago. It is this positive attitude, this alert intellect, this willingness to act as either student or teacher, this generous spirit of John’s that will be remembered and missed.

His sharp mind and professional skills created a host of community leadership opportunities. John served as President of the Mecklenburg County Medical Society, Chief of the Department of Ob-Gyn and a member of the Hospital Advisory Board at Charlotte Memorial Hospital, and for three terms as president of the Charlotte Chapter of the American Cancer Society. He was an Elder and for many years a Sunday School teacher at Myers Park Presbyterian Church, and was a member of the Charlotte Country Club, the Roaring Gap Club, the St. Andrews Society, and the Kiwanis Club.

He had three sisters: Mrs. Wilbur Currie, Mrs. William Farinholt, and Mrs. Watts Carr, and one brother, William K. Woltz. Today he is survived by his three daughters, Mrs. Henry G. Carrison, III, of Greensboro, Mrs. C. D. Gregory of Lancaster, S.C., and Mrs. Norris W. Preyer, Jr. of Charleston, SC; three grandchildren, Mrs. Mark E. Isaacs of Nashville, TN, Mrs. Stephen C. Ryan of Charlotte, NC, and Mr. Henry G. Carrison, IV, of Greensboro, and five great grandsons.

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Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM in First Presbyterian Church’s Memorial Chapel at 617 N. Elm Street, Greensboro, NC 27401 on Saturday, January 26, 2013.

Memorials may be sent to Myers Park Presbyterian Church, 2501 Oxford Place, Charlotte, NC 28207) or The Charlotte Chapter, American Cancer Society (1901 Brunswick Avenue, Suite 100, Charlotte, NC 28207