Wotan M. Zoellner Obituary

Wotan Maximilian Zoellner, 98 of 1721 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.

Wotan M. Zoellner Obituary

December 14, 1906 - October 31, 2005