Birth Date: 12/01/1921
Deceased Date: 08/02/2019
Woodrow Batten, M.D.
December 1, 1921 – August 2, 2019
Woodrow Batten, son of Freeman and Polly Mae Batten, was born at home on the family farm between Selma and Micro, NC on December 1, 1921. He was one of 11 children, 8 of whom survived to adulthood. Working on his family’s farm during the Depression and losing his father to an untimely death when Woodrow was 14 years old, he developed a strong work ethic and sense of duty to family. His parents also instilled in him strong Christian values and started his lifelong membership in the Baptist Church. Some of his favorite childhood memories included prize-winning 4-H Club corn and calf raising projects for county and state fairs and attending Tuscarora Boy Scout Camp. His job surveying land throughout Johnston County would serve him well in later years as he traveled the county roads for many house calls.
After skipping a grade and completing the eleven grades of school in Micro at that time, Woodrow entered Wake Forest College in 1938 at age 16. Rejected for military service as a means to pay for medical school due to childhood asthma, Woodrow borrowed money and worked his way through. After his first year at Wake Forest’s Bowman Gray School of Medicine, the college and medical school moved from the town of Wake Forest to Winston-Salem and Woodrow moved with them. During his training, he had the unique experience of working at the polio hospital in Hickory, NC, during the polio epidemic. He completed college and his Doctorate of Medicine from Bowman Gray all in just 6 years (1944) due to the accelerated program occasioned by the immediate need for doctors during World War II. Postdoctoral work included an internship in pathology at Bowman Gray and Baptist Hospital. He also completed an internship and was Chief Resident in Internal Medicine at Duke University School of medicine with special emphasis on cardiology. Despite previous rejection, he was later called up for military service and stationed at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, FL for a couple of years.
While a medical student, Woodrow met Mary Gordon Walters, a lovely and talented Salem College student who was the assistant organist and sang in the choir at the First Baptist Church he attended in Winston-Salem. Because of her, Woody became a choir member for most of the rest of his life. They set their friendship to music and were married in 1946.
In 1949, the couple moved to Asheville where Woodrow planned to establish his practice. They had fallen in love with living in the mountains during his Duke internship when he spent some time working at the Black Mountain Tuberculosis Sanatorium. However, when the Hill Burton Act provided government funds for building community hospitals, Dr. Batten was persuaded to return home to Johnston County to help develop a new hospital in Smithfield. On the planning committee, he helped draft the policies that shaped how Johnston Memorial Hospital approached caring for a rural community. Dr. Batten noticed that many of the patients needed mental health care, but there were no facilities to help them. Along with three other volunteers, he spearheaded the development of the Johnston County Mental Health Association in 1963. He organized and served as president of the first Johnston County Heart Association, which later became the Tri-County Heart Association. Under his guidance, the hospital started a cardiac intensive care unit in the late 1960s and he taught nurses to read electrocardiograms. He enjoyed teaching and, in addition to his work in Johnston County, he was also a member of the associate staff at Duke and worked with students in the medical clinic.
For outstanding service to his community, he received the 1999 Distinguished Citizen Award from the Greater Smithfield-Selma Area Chamber of Commerce. He served as medical director at the Smithfield Manor nursing facility for 25 years and was honored as Medical Director Emeritus in 2013. The Woodrow Batten Emergency Services Capital Campaign, which raised funds to expand emergency services at Johnston Health, was so named to honor the living legacy of his lifetime of service. He served many years with the Johnston Heath Foundation which honored him as a board member emeritus in 2015. For Dr. and Mrs. Batten’s love of and contributions to the development of music in their community, the principal violin chair of the Tar River Orchestra in Rocky Mount was named by the orchestra’s Endowment Committee in their honor.
After closing his private practice in 2006 at age 84, Dr. Batten still saw patients at Smithfield Manor and continued to work at Johnston Health conducting stress tests and reading EKGs until his retirement in 2017 at age 95. Throughout his career, Dr. Batten was known as a thorough diagnostician with a kind, gentle demeanor who treated people from all walks of life with great respect and kindness. His quick wit and charming sense of humor were good medicine for his patients and friends alike.
Dedication to the First Baptist Church of Smithfield and its mission was a major part of Dr. Batten’s life. He served as a deacon and sang bass in the choir (which his wife directed for 25 years) for over 60 years. Recognizing the importance of emotional and spiritual health, he provided tapes of the sermons to patients who wanted them. The church was an essential element in the raising of their four children. After church or occasionally on a weekday, Dr. Batten managed to squeeze a round of golf into his busy schedule, to which the trophies in his den attest.
Dr. Batten is survived by his wife, Mary Gordon Batten; Daughter, Pam Webb of Forest City; Son, Gordon Batten of Dillsboro, NC; Son, Eric Batten of Sylva, NC; Daughter, Julia Van Batten of Lakewood, CO; Grandson, Tanner Batten of Dillsboro; Great-grandson, Rylan Batten of Dillsboro; Sister, Jean Cooper of Winston-Salem, NC.
A celebration of Dr. Batten’s life will be held at the First Baptist Church at 202 S. 4th St. in Smithfield on Sunday, August 25, 2019, at 2:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Johnston Health Foundation or the First Baptist Church of Smithfield.
