Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Collette, Wendell Phillip July 16, 1945 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Diane Renfrow dianel14@gmail.com November 12, 2015, 7:35 pm Norfolk Journal and Guide,Jul 21,1945 Norfolk - Dr. Wendell Phillip Collette, 43, of 2500 Corprew avenue, one of this city’s most skilled physicians and surgeons, member of the staff of Norfolk Community Hospital, and secretary of the Old Dominion Medical Society, died at a local hospital Monday evening, July 16, at 6:25 o’clock following a brief illness. The funeral will be held at First Calvary Baptist Church Friday at 2 p.m. The body will lay in state at the church from noon. The popular physician, apparently in normal health, had continued actively at his practice up until Tuesday of last week when he was stricken with an illness from which he steadily sank in spite of the valiant efforts of members of the Community Hospital staff in collaboration with outside specialists. He was admitted to the hospital as a patient Saturday, July 14, at 2:35 p.m. Dr. Collette, a native of Norfolk, had practiced here since graduating from Howard Medical School 14 years ago. He was a member of a prominent and highly esteemed local family, the son of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Collette of 923 Wood street. He received his elementary education at the S. C. Armstrong School on Cumberland street, following which he spent four years in the high school at St. Paul’s Polytechnic Institute (then St. Paul Normal and Industrial Institute). Following graduation from high school, he matriculated at Howard University College of Liberal Arts. Completing the four year course with high honors, he then entered the medical college at Howard where for four years he proved to be a brilliant student. He next moved on to Freedmen’s Hospital at the university where he interned for one year. Having completed his prescribed studies with such honors, Dr. Collette, with another honor student of his class, was offered a medical post with the Ethiopian government in Abyssinia, East Africa. He chose, however, to return to his native city to practice. Immediately recognized for his skill and ability by his fellow practitioners in this city, Dr. Collette was at once accepted as a member of the local hospital staff. Here, up until his death, he was chief of the outpatient and clinical service department. Only recently he had pursued postgraduate studies at a northern medical college. Dr. Collette, universally beloved as a fine physician, a warm and sympathetic doctor and an outstanding gentleman, enjoyed an extensive local practice, maintaining an office at 1008 Church street, the Attucks Building. He was a prominent churchman, being a deacon of First Calvary Baptist Church, and a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, in addition to being secretary of the state medical body. The deceased is survived by his widow, Mrs. Celestine Eloise Collette, daughter, Eloise Virginia; his parents; a brother, Mottu P. Collette; a sister, Miss Virginia Collette; two sisters-in-law, Mrs Vivian and Mrs. Carrie Moore Collette, and a nephew, Maurice Collette. The body is at the Hale Funeral Home awaiting burial arrangements. Additional Comments: Calvary Cemetery (DC) not on cemetery listing (Unrecorded interment) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/norfolkcity/obits/c/collette10062gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/vafiles/ File size: 3.7 Kb