Andrew Hill Wootten

Andrew Hill Wootten was born on August 9, 1912 in Lafayette, Georgia. He was the seventh of eight children born to Andrew Jackson Wootten and Lucy Bramlett Wootten. He passed away at home on Sunday, July 29, 2012.

Andrew, who was known as “Andy” to all who knew him, grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee where he attended grade school, middle school, and Central High School. He left school at the end of the ninth grade and studied art under Gilman Lowe. He was connected with the Tivoli Theater and worked in the art department of paramount Theaters in Chattanooga. He was a poster artist and in that position serviced all the theaters and advertised all the movies that played in Chattanooga.

In 1932 he married Evelyn Grace Puckett. This marriage ended in divorce in 1936.

Andy moved to Florida in 1939 and was employed by the Florida State Theaters as an artist. He worked for the Paramount Theater organization, which was headquartered in New York. He also worked at the Beecham Theater where he met his future wife, Hazel Lee Davenport. They were married in 1942 at the First Baptist Church, Orlando, Florida. They had no children.

In 1942, Andy entered the United States Coast Guard and was stationed in Pigeon Key, Key West for six months. He was then transferred to Miami where he served as a recruiter. He stayed in Miami until the end of World War II in 1945.

While serving in the Coast Guard, Andy shared his considerable talent as an artist. He encouraged the Coast Guard to start a magazine and painted covers for the publication.

Like other members of the military, Andy was discharged from the Coast Guard shortly after the armistice was signed in 1945. He then moved to Maitland.

He worked at a variety of jobs ranging from landscaping to painting houses. After working at a variety of jobs he purchased two lots on Clay Street and ultimately opened a studio in Winter Park in approximately 1950.

Between that time and approximately 1997, Andy painted in many cities for a variety of organizations in Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina, where he owned a house in Cashiers. Andy decorated grocery stores, theater productions, hardware stores, night clubs, restaurants, and nursing homes, as well as a variety of other establishments throughout the South.

Andy was predeceased by Hazel in July of 2007. He leaves behind a variety of relatives, including: His nephews, Carl B. Wootten, Jr. of Sterling, Virginia and his children, Eric Wootten and Dianna Wootten-Burke; Perry Wootten of Mt. Kisco, New York and his children, Katharine, Noelle, and Matthew; his nieces: Sue Mashburn and her children of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Ms. Brenda Milligan and her family of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Ms. Emily Bienvenu of Maitland, Florida; and Ms. Staci Bienvenu and her daughter, Grace of Tallahassee, Florida. He also leaves behind many longstanding and close friends, including his devoted caregiver, Ms. Olga Santiago.

Funeral arrangements have been made at Carey Hand Cox-Parker Funeral Home. The viewing will be at Cox-Parker on Thursday, August 2, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Funeral Services will be held on Friday, August 3, at 10:00 AM at the First Baptist Church in Winter Park.