Dr. Waddell Barnes

Dr. Waddell Barnes of Macon, Georgia, died peacefully at his beloved home on Sky Hill on October 7, 2014. He was 89 years old. Dr. Barnes was born in Macon on June 19, 1925, to Aiden Emmett Barnes, Jr. and Sarah Hogan Barnes. He attended Lanier High School and was a member of the ROTC. Dr. Barnes was extremely proud of the accomplishments of many of his high school classmates. Theirs was a class motivated by intellectual excellence, a quality he held in high esteem. Following his graduation from Lanier in 1942, Dr. Barnes attended Mercer University and then entered the Navy, serving at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station before enrolling at Emory Medical School in 1945. After two years at Emory, Dr. Barnes was admitted to Harvard Medical School and graduated with his M.D. degree from Harvard in 1949. Following graduation, he began his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta before reentering the Navy in 1951, serving as the ship's doctor on a destroyer during the Korean War. In 1952 he married the former Martha Davis of Atlanta and joined Yale University as a Fellow in 1953, working with Dr. Gerald Klatskin, the David Paige Smith Professor Emeritus at the Yale School of Medicine and a developer of liver biopsy techniques. In 1955, Dr. Barnes returned to Macon to enter private practice in Internal Medicine. He served as the first physician member of the Macon Hospital Authority and was active in promoting the development of the Medical Center of Middle Georgia as the premier regional hospital. After receiving one of the world's first heart bypasses in 1973, he completed training in oncology under Dr. Edward Dennis at Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas (Baylor University College of Medicine) and became a Board Certified Oncologist. From that point forward, Dr. Barnes limited his practice to oncology. In 1981 he helped found Mercer Medical School and served as the founding Chairman of the Department of Medicine until his retirement in 1991. Mercer Medical School honored Dr. Barnes by forming the Waddell Barnes MD Society of Medicine and by conducting the Waddell Barnes MD Annual Day of Medicine each year. Upon retirement, Dr. Barnes pursued two interests, education and horticulture. He served Macon State College (now Middle Georgia State College) by chairing its foundation, as well as its Board of Trustees, and consulting on health-related programs. At the same time, he attended the University of Georgia to further develop his interest in horticulture. While there, he earned a "Master Gardener" designation through a program offered by the Cooperative Extension Service of the University of Georgia. Dr. Barnes combined his interest in Middle Georgia State College and horticulture by leading the development of a 418 acre botanical garden with the goal of allowing students and faculty to live, work, and learn in a world class garden. The Georgia Board of Regents named the Botanical Gardens in honor of him in 2003. In the following years the Gardens received numerous awards including the Award of Excellence from the Board of Regents, the Arbor Day Foundation Lawrence Enersen Award, and the Carolyn Crayton Award from Keep Macon Bibb Beautiful. Dr. Barnes was honored earlier this year with the National Garden Club's Award of Excellence for his work to help establish and promote the Waddell Barnes Botanical Gardens at Middle Georgia State College. Dr. Barnes was preceded in death by his parents, A. E. Barnes, Jr. and Sarah Hogan Barnes, and by his brother, A. E. Barnes, III. He is survived by his three children, Dr. David Waddell Barnes of Birmingham, Sarah Swift Barnes (Dan) of Lyme, New Hampshire, and Allen Davis Barnes (Gene) of Atlanta, and a very special member of our family, DiAnne Mackey. He leaves behind seven grandchildren, of whom he was very proud: David Morgan Barnes (Aurie), Margaret Belle Barnes, Aiden Charles Woglom (Seung Mi), Ellen Davis Woglom, Brian Davis Barnes, Robert Weldon Barnes, and John Allen Barnes. Hart's Mortuary will handle funeral arrangements. A memorial service will be held in the Conference Center at Middle Georgia State College on Saturday, October 11, 2014, at 11:00 AM. There will be a private burial at Riverside Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that Memorial donations be made to the Waddell Barnes Botanical Gardens, c/o Middle Georgia State College, 100 College Station Drive, Macon 31206. Register online at www.hartsmort.com.