Charles Hunter VonCanon M.D.

Charles Hunter Von Canon, M.D. May 2, 1938 ~ October 1, 2016 Whitwell, TN Local retired pediatrician, Charles Hunter Von Canon, M.D. died at his home on October 1, 2016 after an extended illness. He was born on May 2, 1938 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was preceded in death by: his parents, Oliver Leon Von Canon, M.D. and Marion Yundt Von Canon; his younger brother George Yundt Von Canon, and the mother of his three older children, Delores Hartman Von Canon. He is survived by his wife of twenty-two years, Jennifer Layne Von Canon; his five children: Valerie Von Canon Melcher, Charles Hunter Von Canon, Catherine Graham Von Canon, Charles Fisher Von Canon, Olivia Layne Von Canon; three sisters: Michael Von Canon (David) Handley, Lucy Von Canon, Caroline Von Canon; eight grandchildren: Thorne Melcher, Forte Melcher, Madelyn Von Canon, Lillie Von Canon, Joseph Outten, Miller Outten, Canon Outten, Maryelise Outten and numerous nieces and nephews. He grew up on Lookout Mountain where he attended Lookout Mountain Elementary School. A second-generation attendee of the McCallie School, he was a Cum Laude graduate in the class of 1956. At the time, McCallie was still a military school and he served as the First Lieutenant of Company F, Company Executive. It was at McCallie that he first discovered a love and talent for photography. He processed his photos in a cobbled-together darkroom in his childhood home. While at Vanderbilt University, from the fall of 1956 to spring of 1959, he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. He performed well enough on his MCAT to skip his senior year at Vanderbilt and headed to the University of Tennessee Medical School in Memphis from 1959-1962. He did his internship at John Gaston Hospital in Memphis in 1963 and his residency in pediatrics and pediatric allergies at Tulane University and Duke University. After his father's death in the summer of 1965, he took over his father's pediatric practice in Chattanooga, but that was interrupted just a few months later when he was drafted into service in the U.S. Army as a Captain M.C. in the 190th Medical Detail (MILPHAP). He spent one year at Reynolds Army Hospital in Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. While there, he also did part time general practice work in Elgin, Oklahoma before being sent for a year of deployment. In Vietnam, along with providing medical care for the soldiers, he worked as a liaison in a program that provided medical assistance and aid to Vietnamese civilians. In this capacity he traveled to many outlying villages to provide medical care as well as providing care to the many orphans created by the ongoing conflict. He was awarded many medals and honors while serving including the Bronze Star. After his service in Vietnam, he returned to privaate pediatric practice at Children's Diagnostic Center with Dr. M. Foy Perribn, Dr. Hicks Corey, and Dr. Hossein Massoud in Brainerd. His interests were varied and his curious and restless mind led him in many different directions. He was an avid reader, loved jazz, and could talk politics for hours. He so loved technology and gadgets that he opened a CB radio store in the seventies after he became an active citizens band radio user. He was a partner in a liquor store with his friend Neil Miller. He had satellite tv before it was commercial and a home computer when they were still novelties. This fascination also led him down the path of becoming a self-taught computer programmer. The medical practice bought a computer system for billing and the software did not perform exactly as needed for a physician's office, so he corrected it. While still a practicing physician, he started CDC Data, a computer software and programing company7. At CDC he mainly customized and maintained computer packages for other physicians in town. CDC led to his other computer company, Property Management Systems. He fully retired from pediatrics at fifty-five to focus on his computer interests. After a second retirement, this time from the computer business, he took over the Pizza Pub at the foot of Lookout Mountain with his wife, Jennifer, after Charlie Ward passed away. There he enjoyed the opportunity to be around children again but in a completely different capacity. These children often were the offspring of his former pediatric patients. He had a love of the land and an interest in farming that he first nurtured by creating large vegetable gardens in his backyard. When that was not enough to satisfy his interest, he purchased a piece of property in Cleveland, Tennessee which he named Broken Oak Farms. There he raised chickens, pigs, and black angus cattle under the watchful eye of Bobby and Betty Jo Bacon and their girls, whom he loved like family. While trying to determine the best location for a well for a newly constructed chicken house at "the farm", he discovered a talent for dowsing for water. There are still many functioning wells in Bradley County that were determined by him with this talent. He owned other farmland over the years, mainly as investments, but they could never compare to "the farm". Finally, when he did fully retire he, his wife and two younger children found another piece of farmland that he loved in Sequatchie County where he lived until his last days. He had no cattle there, but he did have chickens and a nice pond for fishing. Even when he was a full-time pediatrician, he stated his occupation as farmer when asked. A memorial service will be held at a future date. Memorial donations can be made in his name at Erlanger Foundations, 975 East Third Street, Chattanooga, TN 37403 "Believe Campaign" to help build a new Childrens Hospital, www.webelieve.build; or to Shriners Childrens Hospital, Office of Development, 2900 Rocky Point Dr., Tampa, FL 33607. www.rudderfuneralhomes.com

Charles Hunter VonCanon M.D.

May 2, 1938 - October 1, 2016