Dougherty County GaArchives Obituaries.....Zoellner, Wotan Maximilian October 31, 2005
************************************************
Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm
************************************************
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ann Yeager ann.yeager@ets.exel.com March 19, 2007, 5:40 am
Kimbrell-Stern 2005
Date of Birth: December 14, 1906
Date of Death: October 31, 2005
Wotan Maximilian Zoellner, 98 of Beattie Rd. died October 31, 2005 at Phoebe
Putney Memorial Hospital. A native of LaGrange, MO, Mr. Zoellner has lived in
Albany since 1964, where he was a longtime member of St. Patrick’s Episcopal
Church and Vestry member. He was also a member of the Albany Kiwanis Club. Mr.
Zoellner along with his wife Dottie owned and operated Zoellner Music Co. in
Albany since 1964. Mr. Zoellner was well known in the music and arts community
in Albany. Soon after he and his wife opened the music store he was holding
meetings in the store to form what is known as the Albany Symphony Orchestra.
He served for many years as concertmaster, the principal first violinist of the
orchestra. In 1908, at just two years old, Mr. Zoellner’s father put a bow in
his hand and began teaching him to play the violin. Mr. Zoellner’s father
encouraged him to practice 8 to10 hours a day. By the time Mr. Zoellner was
four, he had performed his first concert and by age six he was performing
Mendelssohn. A few years later he was sent to board with families in Chicago,
St. Louis and New York City so that he could receive instruction from some of
the greatest violinists, which include the famed Hungarian- born violinist and
instructor, Leopold Auer. Mr. Auer taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in
Russia. He taught some of the most famous violinists, including Kathleen
Parlow, Nathan Milstein and Mischa Elman. In 1929, Mr. Zoellner was in Palm
Beach, Fla., entertaining the Rockefellers. It was common knowledge that if Mr.
Rockefeller liked what he heard, he’d give the performer a dime. Mr. Zoellner
left with a Rockefeller dime in his pocket that evening. At age 15, Mr.
Zoellner’s studies were financed for a time by the Rotary Club of Mobile, AL
which sent him to compete in New York City where he won the Juilliard Musical
Foundation Society music prize of $1,000. He returned to win the prize again
the following year. Newspaper clippings from his younger years attested to his
being “unusually handsome” and proclaimed him a child prodigy, “the noted boy
violinist” and one of the country’s leading players. The next 30 years were
filled with performances and accolades. Mr. Zoellner’s musical talent led him
to New York City’s Fifth Avenue studios of NBC radio, where he played live
broadcasts for two years. By the early ‘60s, Mr. Zoellner moved to Pensacola,
FL with his three brothers, where they operated music stores for many years. It
was there that he charmed his beloved Dorothy a young divorced mother of three
and while delivering a piano to Dorothy’s home, he was love- struck. The couple
soon married and shared 46 happy years together. Mr. Zoellner lived to please
his audience, and did just that by performing the day before his death at St.
Patrick’s Episcopal Church. What a wonderful legacy he has left, and will be
truly missed by his family, friends, and audiences across this land. Survivors
include his daughters, Mary N. Shapard and her husband Tom of Albany, Karen N.
Sinderson and her husband Thomas of Rockville, MD, son, William Ernest
Nordstrom and his wife Patricia of LaCrescenta, CA, four grandchildren, Ross
Nix and his wife Kellie, Ryan Nix and his wife Jackie, Nancy Rojas and her
husband Hector, and Edward Sinderson, four great-grandchildren, Chandler Nix,
Nicole Rojas, Christine Rojas and Alex Rojas, brother, Max Zoellner and his
wife Marjorie of Pensacola, FL, sister-in-law, Carol D. Jones, two nieces,
Yvonne walker and Maxine Burke, nephew, Max Zoellner, Jr. Those desiring,
please make memorials to St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church Building Fund, P.O. Box
70698, Albany, GA 31708.
The memorial service will be Thursday 11 AM at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Dr. James R. Bullion officiating.
File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/dougherty/obits/z/zoellner7046gob.txt
This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/
File size: 4.5 Kb