Dr. William Wallace “Monty” Mountcastle, Jr. of Pensacola, Florida, departed this life on May 23, 2022, at the age of 96. Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, on July 10, 1925, he grew up in Cleveland, Ohio where from an early age, he nurtured his love and talent for drawing and painting at the Cleveland School of Art. He spent his last two years of high school in Miami, Florida, where he discovered his passion for sailing and the sea.
After graduating from high school in 1943, Monty became a pilot in the Army Air Corps. After World War II ended, he was stationed in Tokyo, Japan until 1948. Upon concluding his military service, he attended Whittier College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1951. He then enrolled at Boston University, where he earned a Doctorate of Philosophy in Theology and was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1958.
Dr. Mountcastle had a long and illustrious career as a professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, teaching at several institutions of higher learning: High Point University in North Carolina (1958-1960), Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska (1960-1967), Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida (1967-1969), and the University of West Florida in Pensacola (1969-2003).
