William Md

"1925 - 2015" Waynesville, William Nelson Stecher, MD, age 90, passed away Wednesday, May 20, 2015 at The Homestead. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 20, 1925, he was a son of H. Armin Stecher, MD, and Sylva M. (Ott) Stecher. Bill was raised in Havertown, Pennsylvania. He graduated cum laude from Friends' Central School, Swarthmore College, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Bill was a Charter Diplomate, a member of the American Board of Family Practice and also the American Academy of Family Physicians; a Charter Member of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and also a Charter Fellow. He was a United States Air Force Flight Surgeon; in private practice for 20 years in Shirley, Massachusetts; President of the Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians; Family Practice Consultant to the Nurse Practitioner Program, and Ministry of Health in Kingston, Jamaica. Bill also worked in the emergency room and was a medical center physician on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where he retired. He moved to New Smyrna Beach, Florida in 1996 and then to Waynesville in 2009. Bill was a thirty-second degree Mason. He was an Episcopal lay reader and newsletter publisher and was a former vestryman and senior warden at Grace Church in the Mountains in Waynesville. Bill was previously active in Cursillo and Kairos. He was a member of the Winchester Creek Country Club and was a musician and computer aficionado. He was predeceased by his first wife of 50 years, Beverley Simpson Stecher and daughter, Heidi Stecher Shultz. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth K. Stecher; three children, William N. Stecher, Jr. of Laurens, South Carolina, Gretchen Stecher of Boulder, Colorado, and Kristen Quarella (Joseph) of Leominster, Massachusetts; three step children; 23 grandchildren [blended]; and 18 great-grandchildren [blended]. A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, May 25, 2015 at Grace Church in the Mountains with The Reverend Arlene Lukas officiating and The Reverend Harriet Simmons assisting. A reception will follow the service at the church. A memorial service will be held at a later date in Leominster, Massachusetts. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Grace Episcopal Church in the Mountains, 394 North Haywood Street, Waynesville, NC 28786.