Dr. William Rolfe Weathers, 83 years of age, died on December 9, 2021, in Los Angeles. William was born at Homer G. Phillips Hospital on October 5, 1938, in St. Louis, Missouri, the third of four siblings born to Dr. Henri Weathers II and Alice Mae Gentry Weathers.
William was affectionally called “Skookie “ by his family and friends in his home town of East St. Louis, Illinois. He attended Lincoln High School and East St. Louis Sr. High School, where he was among the first black students to integrate.
He then attended Howard University (BS 1960) where William, who was known to his friends as “Doc,” was active in the German Club, Chemistry Club, Campus Pals and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. After obtaining his undergraduate degree in Zoology, he attended Howard University College of Medicine concentrating in Radiology.
Doc served as an intern at Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. and completed his residency at Harbor Hospital in Los Angeles. He later served as Chief of Radiology at The Watts Health Center until his retirement.
After retirement, Dr. Weathers continued to serve the South Los Angeles community by being on call at the Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital. One of his greatest joys was serving in the National Health Service Corps and working on the Native American reservations in Oklahoma and other states.
Doc enjoyed living in Los Angeles because he loved the outdoors. He played tennis, pickup basketball, and enjoyed walking in parks and beaches. One of Doc’s strong suits was being a great conversationalist, he was a person of many words and each word had many meanings.
Doc was a voracious reader and an avid supporter of the arts, including music and visual and performance arts. He particularly loved live jazz. He was known to attend jazz parties and festivals around the world and throughout the United States, including the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Detroit Jazz Festival, and the New Orleans Heritage Jazz Festival. Anywhere there was music in Los Angeles, he was there, too.
Doc also loved track and field, attending the Olympics in Brazil and China, and California State track meets, including San Diego, where he rallied to support his niece and great nephews.
William was preceded in death by his parents and brother, Dr. Henri Weathers III. He leaves behind to mourn his brother, Eugene (Delmar) Weathers of Washington, D.C.; his sister, Alice Ann Weathers of Evansville, Indiana; his beloved nieces, Avril, Shelley, Alicia, Lena Weathers; and cousins, Marsha and Eric Gentry. Also mourning are his beloved nephews, Eduard and Frederick Weathers; and grand-nephew, Raymond Cash.
His cherished friends also mourn his passing including Francis Crawford, her daughter, Tracey Mack-Damon, Clint Rosemond, Ernie Fields, his godchild, Kelly, and her father, Dr. Sylvester Booker, and a host of Jazz friends and musicians around the world.
Private services and internment will be held in St. Louis, Missouri. A memorial service to be held in Los Angeles at a later date.
