On Tuesday, January 26, 2021, Dr. William Robinson Bagby of Montezuma, NC passed from our mortal realm of natural causes.
Bill âDocâ Bagby was born July 22, 1925, to James Willis Bagby and Lucile Shuford Bagby in Johnson City, TN. He and his twin brother, Robert Bagby, were the youngest of six children.
Bill grew up in Johnson City in eastern Tennessee, and Avery County in western NC; mountain country that he loved fiercely his entire lifetime. Grandfather Mountain, NC, was his symbolic home. He lived his last 25 years in Montezuma, NC, in perfect view of that iconic peak of Blue Ridge Mountains.
Bill joined the Army Air Corps with his twin brother, Bob, after HS graduation in 1943. They were 17 years old at their time of enlistment. He was a radio operator on the âFlying Fortressâ B-17, and later on the âSuperfortressâ B-29. The twins were stationed at Alamogordo at the time of the Atomic Bomb tests.