Mr. John Watts Jamison

John Watts Jamison, 82, former journalist and public relations executive, died on Friday April 19, 2013 at the John F. Keever, Jr. Solace Center in Asheville. He lived in Charlotte, NC, for most of his life, and for the past 21 years he has lived in Asheville, NC. Jamison was born on November 22, 1930, in Charlotte, the younger of two children. He was the son of the late James Randolph Jamison and Ruby Kelly Jamison of Charlotte. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. After graduation, he served as a U.S. Naval Officer with Patrol Squadron Eight (VP-8). He served with the squadron in various deployments to Newfoundland, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Azores, eventually attaining the rank of lieutenant. He completed his active duty service in early 1957, returning to Charlotte where he took a job as reporter at The Charlotte News, covering city and county government. He then became a reporter at WBT-WBTV in Charlotte with the radio and television stations for nine years, becoming news editor. In 1967 he returned to The Charlotte News as city editor. In 1969, he left journalism to join North Carolina National Bank in Charlotte in its Corporate Communications Department. He rose to vice-president for corporate communications for the bank and its parent company, NCNB Corporation (now Bank of America). He left the banking firm in 1981 and worked in various capacities as an account executive for public relations and marketing firms in Charlotte and Houston, TX. He returned to North Carolina in 1987, and from 1988 until his retirement in 1992 he worked in the field of alcoholism and drug addiction treatment. He is the author of Hunter’s Paradise, a novel, and Confessions of a Gentle Skeptic, a memoir. In the mid-1970s, Jamison took a deep interest in horticulture and began a study of the native plants of the North Carolina mountains. He was a gardening protégé and friend of the late Elizabeth Lawrence, the well-known garden writer who lived in Charlotte. In the 1990s, he and Mrs. Jamison built an extensive natural garden at their Asheville home. He is survived by his wife, Curry Jamison; a brother, James Randolph Jamison, Jr. of Statesville, NC; two sons, John Christopher Jamison of Towson, MD, and Kelly S. Jamison of Matthews, NC; two daughters, Laura Jamison Simmons of Lincolnton, NC, and Kathleen Jamison Sharpe of Monroe, NC; two step children, Mia and Eliot Wadopian of Asheville, NC and twelve grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM at the Botanical Gardens at Asheville, 151 W.T. Weaver Blvd., Asheville, NC 28804-3414 on Thursday April 25, 2013. The family requests that any memorials be sent to CarePartners Hospice Foundation, PO Box 25338, Asheville, NC 28813 or to the Botanical Gardens at Asheville.

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Mr. John Watts Jamison

November 22, 1930 - April 19, 2013