organometallic precursors: Application to platinum,” published in the January/February 2007
issue of Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology.
Birdwhistell is a professor of chemistry at Loyola University New Orleans. Deborah S.
Elliott (’ 85 ABJO) of Wilmington, president
of Talk PR Inc., and her firm have received
two Sir Walter Raleigh Awards from the
Raleigh Public Relations Society; a gold award
in the Bang For Your Buck special event/cam-paign category for work on the 2006 grand
opening at the Children’s Museum of Wilmington, and a silver award in audio/visual com-
munications, H TML presentation, for the Talk
PR Inc. Web site. John Harvey Gilbert III
(’ 85 BSCH) of Chesterfield, Mo., has been
promoted to vice president and general manager at Cyanta Analytical Laboratories in St.
Louis. Archie Mack Jr. (’ 85 BSBA, ’ 89
MBA) of Chicago has been named vice president of marketing for America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank, a charitable
domestic hunger-relief organization. Col.
Jerry Leonard Wood (’ 85 AB) of Fort Benning, Ga., has been promoted to the rank of
colonel in the Army.
80s
■ family addition
Marshall McCoy Blythe Jr. (’ 85 AB) and
Dorene Saltiel Blythe of Newton, Mass.; a
son, Graham Marshall Blythe, on June 30,
2007.
■ obituaries
Betty Bass Garrison (’ 85 MPH), 71, of
Charlotte; Aug. 18, 2007. Garrison was active
in the nursing profession for more than 50
years. Most of those years she was with
Charlotte Rehabilitation Hospital, which now
FLORENCE SOLTYS ’ 84 (MSW) 1935–2007
Her Life’s Work Was Improving Lives of the Elderly
Afriend in need is a friend indeed” is an apt ated, and Soltys was its president. Through it, you had her undivided atten-description of a UNC faculty member the state-certified, nonprofit Central Orange tion, not just to listen, but to do something
who spent her time, energy and know-how Adult Day Health Center in Hillsborough about it.”
advocating for better care for the elderly. was created and has operated since 2003. She also hosted a local cable television
Florence Soltys ’ 84 (MSW), 72, of Chapel Jerry Passmore, director of the Orange show, In Praise of Aging.
Hill, died Sept. 27 of complications from an County Center on Aging, worked with Soltys moved to Chapel Hill in 1975 and
auto accident. Soltys on her concerns for the elderly and in immediately became involved in care of the
William Friday ’ 48 (LLB), president emer- the creation of Senior Care. “Her heart and elderly. An early project was helping establish
itus of the UNC System, told Meals on Wheels. In 1982,
The News & Observer: “If I she enrolled at UNC and
wanted to single out some- earned her master’s in social
body whose life manifested work in 1984. Just a year
what we mean in this country later, she was asked to join
by public service, I would cite the faculty, where she con-
Florence Soltys. There was tinued teaching until her
never a time you needed her retirement.
and she was not there.” She had recently co-
Soltys, who retired from edited Transformational
Carolina in June, was clinical Reminiscence, with John A.
associate professor in the Kunz, discussing the use of
School of Social Work and a patient’s past to improve
had joint appointments in the mood and cognition. She
schools of medicine and nurs- was president of the
ing. She taught courses on International Institute for
care of the aging and advo- Reminiscence and Life
cated for the elderly to live in Review and her co-author
Florence Soltys ’ 84 (MSW), center, believed better care for the elderly would allow them to live independent-
their own homes as long as ly longer in their own homes. She led several efforts in the Chapel Hill area to improve care. its founder and director.
possible. Her students learned Soltys’ honors were
the importance of integrated care, as Soltys many. She was named outstanding teacher of
involved medicine, allied health, nursing, phar- post-baccalaureate students at UNC, received
macy, social work and dentistry in determin- the Ned Brooks Award for Community
ing the best care program for a client. A Service, was named N.C. Social Worker of
major concern of hers was the need for high the Year and Trustee of the Year for the
quality medical care for older people. American Association of Homes and Services
Soltys was a true example of the melding for the Aging of the United States, among
of town and gown interests. Though she was others.
based at UNC, she worked for the greater A memorial service honoring Soltys was
community. She was chairman of the first planned for early November, at the new
five-year plan for care of the aging in Orange Seymour Senior Center in Chapel Hill.
County. That plan identified the need for a Students in the School of Social Work estab-
county day center to provide for the medical lished a scholarship in her honor when she
needs of the elderly. To accomplish that, retired.
COURTESY UNC SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
Senior Care of Orange County Inc. was cre-
in
memoriam
soul were dedicated to that day health center,” he said, and it will be a lasting legacy of
her work to improve care for elderly citizens
so they are able to stay in their own homes
longer. She was co-chairman of the county’s
second master plan, which recently was
approved by the county commissioners.
“She had the capacity to organize and get
things done,” said Dr. George Sheldon, chairman of the surgery department at UNC’s
School of Medicine, who served on committees with Soltys, both in elder care and on
projects in their Greenwood neighborhood.
“She was not one to hand-wring,” he said.
“When she talked to you about a problem,
— Sally Walters
