Yarn, Charles
YARN, Jr., Charles Presh Charles Presh Yarn, Jr. died peacefully on September 5, 2020. Charlie was born in Atlanta on November 30, 1920, to Nancy Carroll Yarn and Charles P. Yarn. After graduating from Boys' High in Atlanta, he attended Brigham Young University and Emory University, where he received his undergraduate and medical degrees. He put himself through school as a professional dancer and often told the story of his guest appearance with the Ballet Russes when they performed in Atlanta. After serving as a naval surgeon during World War II, he returned to Atlanta to train as a plastic surgeon and resumed active naval service during the Korean War in order to establish a Plastics and Reconstructive Department on the East Coast for the armed forces. Dr. Yarn was only the 186th doctor in North America to be certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Among the innumerable procedures he performed during his four decades of practice in Atlanta, including over twenty years as the Chief of Plastic Surgery at Piedmont Hospital, Dr. Yarn performed over three thousand cleft lip and palate operations on children. He was known for his patience and soothing bedside manner. During medical school, Charlie was set up on a blind date with Jane Hurt, of Scottsboro, AL. He fell in love at first sight. They were married until Jane's death from breast cancer, fifty-one years later. Dr. Yarn supported Jane's pioneering environmental advocacy for the Georgia coast and marshlands; for example, in 1969, he took out a loan and bought Egg Island to protect it from development, the first acquisition of coastal land by conservationists. The Nature Conservancy then purchased the island, which is now part of the Wolf Island National Wildlife Refuge.
View the obituary on Legacy.com
Funeral Home Information
LAUGHLIN SERVICE FUNERAL HOME
2320 BOB WALLACE AVE S W
Huntsville, AL
35805-4725
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