Jerry Whittington
December 31, 1925 - March 20, 2014
Dr. Julius Jerome Whittington III, 88 of 9310 Lynn field Lane, Benton, AR died Thursday, March 20th, 2014 at The Saline Memorial Hospice in Bryant, AR. from complications due to a fall.
He was born in Greenwood, MS. His parents were the late Julius Jerome Whittington Jr. and Reba “Rebecca” Foster Whittington. He is preceded in death by his sister, Patricia Joan Robbins, who passed away December 12, 2012. He was reared on the Beulah Plantation in Beulah, MS later moving to Memphis where he attended Central High School. At the age of 17, Jerry enlisted in the Navy where he was assigned to the Medical Corp. and served four years on the USS Arlington during WWII. After the war he returned to school and graduated from Southwestern (Rhodes College) earning a Bachelor of Science and went on to the University of Tennessee School of Medicine and received his MD in Family Practice. He was Vice-President of his class and graduated 13th out of 40 graduates. He did his Internship at the Methodist Hospital in Memphis.
After graduation he married Joyce McCall and set up a practice in Hickory Flat, MS. After six years, they moved to Walnut Ridge, AR and he had a family practice there for a few years. There were three children from that marriage. They divorced in the 1960's and in 1971 Jerry moved to Jonesboro, AR where he met Anne Ter Keursh. They married June 26, 1973 in Montego Bay, Jamaica. From 1971-1976 Jerry was Director of the Emergency Dept. at St. Bernard's Hospital. During that time he served as Vice-President of the Arkansas Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, pioneering the specialty of Emergency Medicine. In 1976 he and Anne moved to New Orleans where he joined the ER staff at Ochsner's Medical Center and worked in Emergency Medicine until he retired at 65 years old. He and Anne enjoyed many years sailing their 36-foot sloop on Lake Pontchartrain and out into the Gulf. They also enjoyed eight years of restoring their Queen Anne Victorian home in the Garden District to its original state, with that experience Jerry spent his retirement years working with Anne creating a museum in Ludington, Michigan. That museum is now considered the finest small Museum in the US representing one of the early Chautauqua's. Jerry was raised in the Baptist faith but later joined Anne in her faith as a Methodist.
Survivors include his wife, the former Anne Theola Ter Keurst of Benton, AR: a sister, Linda Margaret Bruce of Olive Branch, MS: a brother-in-law, Dorman L. Robbins: two sons, Julius Jerome Whittington IV of Mesa, AZ and Thomas Richard Whittington of Memphis: one daughter, Jenny Sue Kaemmerer of Pittsburgh, PA: four grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
There will be a gathering of friends Monday, March 24th, 2014 from 11:00 am -- 1:00 pm with funeral service beginning at 1:00 pm, at Brantley Funeral Home, 6875 Cockrum Street, Olive Branch, MS. Interment will follow the service at Blocker Cemetery, Olive Branch, MS.
Online condolences may be made at BrantleyFuneral.com.
Arrangements under the direction of Brantley Funeral Home, Olive Branch, MS.