Octavius McCrary Otts, Jr. ’41

Octavius McCrary Otts, Jr. ’41, 91, passed away peacefully at home in Mobile, Ala., on March 13, 2012. Born in Mobile in 1921, Otts was preceded in death by his parents, O.M. Otts, Sr. and Roberta Hanna Otts, and his wife of 61 years, Fay Butt Otts. He is survived by his children, Octavius McCrary Otts III ’67 (Virginia), 2431 River Forest Dr., Mobile, AL 36605-4439, Richard Lemuel Otts (Elizabeth), and Fay Otts Phillips (Mike); grandchildren, Rhen Otts Druhan ’95 (Tommy), McCrary Otts (Elizabeth), Richard Otts (Lindsay), John Otts (Julie), Elizabeth Otts, Robert Otts (Sarah), Edward Otts, Mike Phillips, and Fay Phillips; and great-grandchildren, Sims and Margaret Druhan, Virginia, Mac, and Ella Otts, Sarah Catherine, Lee, and Margaret Otts, Jack and Conrad Otts, Lelia Otts, and William Barnes. Otts received his undergraduate degree from Davidson and graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine in 1944. He served two years as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Otts chose as his specialty obstetrics and gynecology because, he often said, those cases almost always had happy endings. During his 51-year practice, he served as chief of staff at the Mobile Infirmary and as chairman of the board of Health in Mobile County before it became a fulltime position. In the 1960s, he volunteered his time to direct the gynecological and obstetrics program at Mobile General Hospital, where he enjoyed training residents in that field until the University of South Alabama College of Medicine opened. As one former resident and colleague said, “He believed in medical education, and he believed in training people in the right way to provide for future generations. He had remarkable vision and foresight to do that at that time.” Because of the many years he dedicated to training medical residents on his own time and other accomplishments, in 2011 Otts was honored as only the third doctor to receive the Alabama Legends in Obstetrics and Gynecology award by the state chapter of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He was a lifelong Presbyterian and a member of Spring Hill Presbyterian Church. Before that he served as an elder at Government Street Presbyterian Church. Otts was a former member of the board of trustees at University Military School, the UMS football team doctor for many years, and a member of the Mobile Rotary Club. He was an avid golfer and served as president of the Alabama Senior Golf Association.