Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 26, 1993 TAG: 9301260149
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
WYTHEVILLE HISTORIAN, DOCTOR DIES
Dr. Walter Randolph Chitwood, 72, historian and physician, died Sunday at his Wytheville home.He joined his father in establishing the Chitwood Memorial Clinic in 1948 when he returned to Wytheville after serving as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during World War II. He retired from medical practice in 1965 after suffering a heart attack.
After retirement, Chitwood continued pursuing a lifelong interest in photography and history.
He is the author of several books on the history of Wythe County and of medical practice in Southwest Virginia. With Mary B. Kegley, he compiled three albums of old Wythe County photographs. He also did research for a county history that Kegley wrote for the county bicentennial in 1990.
At the time of his death, he was writing a book on army doctors of the Confederacy.
He was active in the historical societies of Wythe County and Southwest Virginia, and the American Association of the History of Medicine. The Wythe County Board of Supervisors named him to the county bicentennial commission for that celebration.
He also served on the Wythe County Public Library board and was a member of Sovran Bank's board of directors and advisory board for 30 years. He received the 1990 Wytheville-Wythe-Bland Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year award.
Survivors include his wife, Ruth A. Reed Chitwood; two sons, Dr. Walter Randolph Chitwood Jr., of Greenville, N.C., and William Edmund Chitwood, of Charleston, S.C.; and a daughter, Dr. Patty Chitwood Sprague, of Newport.
The funeral will be Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the Wytheville Presbyterian Church, with burial in the Tipton Cemetery in Hillsville.
The family suggests that instead of flowers, donations be made to the Wytheville Community College Educational Foundation's Historical Library Collection.
Grubb Funeral Home is handling arrangements. - Southwest bureau
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.