Hunter Marshall Gaunt, Jr.

Date of Death: January 8, 2017

Christ Episcopal Church

114 W. Boscawen Street

Winchester, VA 22601

Tuesday 1/17, 3:00 pm

Private

Hunter M. Gaunt, Jr., M.D. of Winchester, Virginia, died on January 8, 2017 at the age of 85. Dr. Gaunt was a retired physician who practiced surgery for 34 years in Winchester, Virginia.
He was born in Winchester, the son of Elsie Mae Gaunt and Hunter M. Gaunt, founders of Gaunt’s Drug Store. Dr. Gaunt discovered his love of medicine while working at the Drug Store throughout high school and the early years of his higher education. Dr. Gaunt graduated from Handley High School in 1949, the Medical College of Virginia School of Pharmacy in 1953, and the Medical College of Virginia School of Medicine in 1957. He completed his surgical residency at the Medical College of Virginia in 1962. He was a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons, a member of the Virginia Surgical Society, the Humera Surgical Society, and the Medical Society of Virginia.
Dr. Gaunt served the Winchester Medical Center in numerous ways beyond his surgical practice. He was a past President of the Winchester Medical Center Medical Staff, past Chief of Surgery, and past member of the Board of Directors of the Winchester Medical Center. Dr. Gaunt also was a former member of the Medical School Advisory Council of the Virginia Commonwealth University.
Dr. Gaunt was appointed to the Virginia State Board of Health by Governor George Allen in 1996 for a four-year term. He was an Emeritus Board Member of Shenandoah University, Founding Board Member of Our Health in Winchester, and current Board Member of the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley. All of these opportunities provided Dr. Gaunt a rich retirement vocation serving the community he loved. This was most evident in his volunteer work for the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, where he applied his passion for antiques and decorative arts as the Chairman of the Collections Committee, and his love of roses in his role as volunteer docent in the rose garden at Glen Burnie.
Dr. Gaunt was a lifelong member of Christ Episcopal Church in Winchester. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Shirley Hauptman Gaunt; one daughter, Cary Hauptman Gaunt, Ph.D. of Keene, New Hampshire; and a sister-in-law, Irene H. Ramm and her family.
A Memorial Service will be held at Christ Episcopal Church on Tuesday January 17 at 3:00 PM, followed by a reception at the Church Parish Hall. The Burial will be private.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Gaunt Collectors’ Society of the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (901 Amherst Street, Winchester, VA 22601), or to your favorite local charity.

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This will sound crazy but for some reason this is a big memory of Dr. Gaunt. Bruce Springstreen had just be come poplar with "Born in the USA". Dr. Gaunt did not understand why he had to "yell" everything he sang. So I remember Dr. Gaunt singing , "Born in the USA". He made me laugh. He was always a professional gentlemen with whom to work.

Dr Gaunt was a gentle soul who made his OR staff feel appreciated in the team efforts to make every individual patient and their surgery top priority. As a new RN in June of '71, he was a positive role model for training and educating new staff, making us feel valued in an arena that could be daunting. His kindness to staff and patients never changed through his decades of service. I personally feel so fortunate to have worked with him for many years. RIP.

I first met Dr. Gaunt when I was a new nurse at Winchester Hospital. The smile he has in the photo in his obituary was the exact smile he wore at the hospital. He was a kind physician, not one who thought he was better than other staff. We need more like him.

Please accept our deepest condolences for your family's loss.