Jack Carlton Witker

b. 28 August 1917, d. 29 September 1996
  • Jack Carlton Witker was born on 28 August 1917 in Ohio.
  • Ernest Henry Witker and Louise Marie Ziegler appeared in the US federal census of 1 April 1930 in Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio, at 2702 Scottwood Avenue. Other members of the household included Jack Carlton Witker, Clarence Witker, Louis C. Witker and Annabelle Witker.
  • The SSDI lists Lakeside Marblehead, Ottawa County, Ohio, as the last residence of record of Jack Carlton Witker.
  • Jack Carlton Witker died on 29 September 1996 at age 79.
  • The following appeared on 30 September 1996 in The Blade: Dr. Jack Witker, a Marblehead physician and former Ottawa County health commissioner, died of pneumonia yesterday at his home. He was 79.
         Dr. Witker was a family physician for 48 years in the Marblehead area.
         He moved from Toledo in 1946, expecting his stay would be temporary, recalled his wife, Helen.
         His intent was to return to the city when a pediatric residency opened.
         ''We came here and just fell in love with the people,'' said Mrs. Witker, who met her husband at St. Vincent Medical Center, where he was doing his first residency and she was studying to become a nurse.
         ''Everybody had such large families he really had a pediatric practice, so we never left,'' she said. ''He delivered babies, made house calls, he did everything.''
         Before the advent of emergency medical services, he often was summoned to treat accident victims and others injured while enjoying themselves along the lake, she said.
         ''The coast guard would track him down in those days when they had something,'' she said. ''He always said he had the best practice in the world.''
         Being the only physician in the area in the early years of his practice meant long days, and he often didn't get home until 2 a.m., she said.
         But he kept in touch with his wife, because sometimes patients came to the doctor's home when they were ill.
         ''We had people inside our house at Lakeside with heart attacks sometimes,'' she said. ''It was a very unusual practice.''
         Gratitude for his care was returned in ways nearly absent from the medical profession today, Mrs. Witker said.
         ''People used to bake things when he made house calls,'' she said.
         Homemade food accompanied him home frequently, once confusing one of his daughters about exactly what her father did.
         ''She liked something he brought and said, 'Could Daddy bring home some of those cookies again?' She thought he baked at the office,'' she said. ''He was an old-fashioned doctor. He just loved people.''
         He was a staff doctor for many years at Magruder Hospital. From 1978 to 1989, he was health commissioner for Ottawa County.
         He retired from private practice in 1994 because of poor health.
         He was an army veteran of World War II, serving in the Third Armored Division.
         Also surviving are daughters, Cheryl Kocher, Jackie Daughenbaugh, and Wendy Witker; son, David; sister, Annabelle Witker, and five grandchildren.
         Services will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday in St. Joseph Catholic Church, Marblehead. The body will be in the Gerner & Wolf Funeral Home after 2 p.m. tomorrow.
  • Last Edited: 11 Mar 2011