Birth Date: 10/10/1927
Deceased Date: 10/09/2017
Johnnie William Wootton, 89, of Leland, NC, died on October 9, 2017, at the North Carolina State Veterans Home in Kinston, NC. Son of Thiney and F.W. Wootton, brother of Dalton and Billy Ray, he grew up in Leland as a fine basketball and baseball player. He married Betty Jean Parker in 1950; he is survived by their daughters, Linda Wootton (and her husband Mike Grimwood) of Raleigh and Sharon Wootton Thompson (and her husband Bobby Thompson) of Pine Level, as well as three grandchildren (Jon Thompson and his wife Valerie, Brad Thompson and his wife April, and Miranda Wootton) and five great-grandchildren (Jonathan Thompson, Jordan Thompson, Matthew Thompson, Nathaniel Lucus, and Spencer Lucus).
After Betty’s death in 1991, he married Margaret Clark of Southport and they resided in Leland. Peggy died in 2015.
From 1945 to 1947, Mr. Wootton served in the U.S. Navy as Fireman First Class aboard the battleship USS Nevada and three destroyers and was watching in Tokyo Bay as the documents to end the war were signed.
He worked for Cities Service Oil Co., later Citgo, for 31 years, first in Wilmington and later in Selma, NC. And he was long a deacon and an elder at Woodburn Presbyterian Church in Leland.
A graveside service will be held at Price Cemetery in Pine Level, at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 11, 2017. The family will receive friends following the service.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Boys and Girls Homes of NC, P.O. Box 127, Lake Waccamaw, NC 28450 (boysandgirlshomes.org).
Online condolences may be sent to the family at parrishfh.com.
