Theodore Odell

Ted Odell, 93, of Morehead City passed away on Friday, November 4, at Crystal Coast Hospice House.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at 2:00 pm Saturday, January 28, 2017 at the Unitarian Coastal Fellowship, 1300 Evans Street, Morehead City.

He was born in Geneva, New York, to Theodore T. and Elizabeth H. Odell.  He attended Hobart Collage until he joined the Air Force.  He later obtained a PhD in zoology from Indiana University.  During World War II he served as a co-pilot of a B-17 in the 833rd Bomber Squadron, flying 22 missions over Europe.  On the last mission his plane went down over Germany and he became a prisoner of war.

In 1952 Ted joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as a research scientist.  He was highly acclaimed in the field of hematology, publishing over 50 papers and presenting his research at professional conferences around the world.  He and his colleagues did pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation.  During his time in Oak Ridge he was on the Board of Planned Parenthood of the Southern Mountains and the Southeast Regional Planned Parenthood Board.  He was given the Alan Guttmacher Award for his decade of service to Planned Parenthood.

Upon his retirement in 1983, Ted and his wife Ann moved to Morehead City, North Carolina.  He became an active community volunteer serving on the Boards of the North Carolina Coastal Federation, Carteret County Crossroads, the Maritime Museum’s Junior Sailing program, the Unitarian Coastal Fellowship and Morehead City Downtown Revitalization.  Ted enjoyed working with students at the Boys and Girls Club and teaching English as a second language with the Carteret Literacy Council.  He also did volunteer work with Family Promise.  Intellectual curiosity and joy in life lead him to learn Spanish in his  80’s and take up kayaking in his 90’s.  Throughout his life he loved studying birds and butterflies, doing wood working and creating  gardens.  Ted was gentle and kind in helping people.

Ted loved being on the water and was a well-known Sunfish sailor, winning many regattas.  He was also a member of the crew of the competitively successful Compass Rose.  To pass along this love of sailing to young people he helped teach sailing in the Maritime Museum’s Junior Sailing program.  He worked on maintaining the sailboats for the program during the winter season.

He is survived by his wife, Ann of Morehead City, his daughters Anne Odell and husband Leo Bevon of Norfolk, VA, Joan Odell and husband Dexter Chisholm of Unionville, PA and their sons Nicholas and Mitchell, Jude Odell of Indianapolis, IN, step-son Greg Burn and wife Anne of Ft. Myers, FL, and their daughter Mary Roberts, step-son Kevin and wife Karon of Oak Ridge, Tn and their children Brittany Matthews and Riley Burn.  He was preceded in death by his step-daughter Kristi Brott.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Unitarian Coastal Fellowship, 1300 Evans St, Morehead City, NC 28557 or Friends of the Museum, Junior Sailing Program noted, 315 Front St, Beaufort, NC 28516.

Online condolences may be made at www.mundenfuneralhome.net

Arrangements are by Munden Funeral Home & Crematory, Morehead City, NC.