ASHEVILLE – On Jan. 6, Dr. Wayne Swope Montgomery died on the age of 97 at a retirement residence in North Asheville.
Within the years continuing his loss of life, Montgomery was identified by many for his love of tennis ― which he performed till he was 88 ― his day by day swimming routine and a peaceful and sort demeanor.
However nearer the top of his life, what many didn’t know concerning the Midwestern-born physician who helped discovered the world’s long-running orthopedic apply, Blue Ridge Bone and Joint, was Montgomery’s historic function in Asheville politics: the town’s first Republican mayor because the Civil Struggle, Montgomery served in authorities and politics throughout a interval of nice native and nationwide change, together with racial integration of colleges.
“We even had a risk any individual was going to bomb our home,” Wayne Montgomery Jr., who goes by his center identify Swope, instructed the Citizen Occasions Jan. 9, shortly after his father’s loss of life. “They had been turbulent instances.”
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In distinction to the polarization and combativeness that mark fashionable politics, Montgomery was remembered for civility and skill by outstanding Democrat Tom Sobol, who served with him on the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners after Montgomery’s time as mayor.
“We bought alongside very, very properly,” stated Sobol, 80 “I’ve an amazing quantity of respect for him.”
Swope was preceded in loss of life by his spouse, Elizabeth Campbell Jeschke Montgomery, a outstanding swimming coach, his daughter Mary, a world-class swimmer who competed within the 1972 Olympics, and his granddaughter, Web page Whetsell.
He’s survived by sons, Wayne (Candace Fouts) and Woodard Web page Montgomery (Joyce), and daughters, Ann Montgomery Sims (Wilson) and Jane Montgomery Whetsell (Paul), and 14 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, in keeping with his obituary within the Citizen Occasions.
Montgomery was born in 1925 in Battle Creek, Michigan, and later lived in Madison, Indiana, the place he went to public colleges. Athletic from a younger age, he was supplied a minor league baseball contract by Boston Purple Sox Farm Supervisor Herb Pennock. As a substitute he graduated from DePauw College in Greencastle, Indiana, which he attended on an instructional scholarship and the place he met his spouse, often called Betsy.
Within the World Struggle II and the Korean Struggle, he was a lieutenant and naval doctor, serving in Tennessee, North Carolina and a number of places in Japan.
Montgomery graduated from Detroit’s Wayne College Medical College in 1950 and after an internship and fellowship at Campbell Clinic in Memphis, Tennessee, accepted a proposal in 1955 to hitch the Asheville apply of Dr. Walter Watt that will change into Blue Ridge Bone and Joint the place he noticed sufferers till 1993.
“In the event you ever went with Dad anyplace somebody would come up and say, ‘Hey, Doc, do you keep in mind you fastened my elbow or my knee?” stated daughter Jane Whetsell, who lives in Woodfin.
Daughter Ann Simms, who additionally lives in Woodfin, talked about her father’s consideration to hospital workers, remembering how a volunteer “sweet striper” instructed him of her curiosity in changing into a health care provider. “He stated to her, ‘why do not you come up and watch what I am doing?'”
Sports activities remained essential to him and Montgomery coached and headed little league baseball and was an orthopedist for the Atlanta Falcons 1965 summer season camp in Asheville.
With politics, Montgomery was struck by the dominance of Democrats in his adopted metropolis and the dearth of viable Republican candidates, son Swope Montgomery stated.
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“His feeling was that he wished to see a wholesome two-party system. So he began encouraging folks to run for Metropolis Council or county commissioner and commenced serving to them elevate cash for campaigns,” he stated.
He turned chair of the Buncombe GOP in 1965, serving till 1969 when he gained what was then a partisan metropolis election and have become mayor. The vast majority of council members then had been Republicans because the area and nation went by way of the tumult of the civil rights motion and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Following Asheville Excessive’s integration in 1969 Black college students protested lack of alternatives and limits on their means to take part in actions. A protest devolved right into a police confrontation with riot batons and damaged home windows. Montgomery declared a citywide curfew and state of emergency.
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After metropolis authorities, Montgomery served on the Board of Commissioners from 1984 to 1988.
After politics, he continued his tennis and day by day swims in addition to remarkably intensive involvement in civic teams, serving on the boards of the N.C. Division of Transportation, the Purple Cross, the American Most cancers Society, the county well being division, the Black Mountain House for Youngsters and others.
“Most likely one of many best attributes of his management fashion was his means to not be outlined by political labels, however to work for what was finest for the group,” stated present GOP chair Glenda Weinert.
Extra:Learn Montgomery’s full obituary
A celebration of life ceremony for Montgomery can be held 10 a.m. April 22 at Groce Funeral House at 72 Lengthy Shoals Highway.
In lieu of flowers, the household is asking for contributions Black Mountain House for Youngsters, 80 Lake Eden Highway, Black Mountain, NC 28711, or to Brooks Howell House, 266 Merrimon Ave., Asheville, NC 28801. A visitor register e book is out there on-line at www.grocefuneralhome.com.
Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for greater than 20 years, masking politics, authorities, and different information. He is written award-winning tales on subjects starting from gerrymandering to police use of pressure. Acquired a tip? Contact Burgess at jburgess@citizentimes.com, 828-713-1095, or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Please assist help such a journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Occasions.
