Dougherty County GaArchives Obituaries.....Zoellner, Wotan Maximilian October 31, 2005
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ann Yeager ann.yeager@ets.exel.com March 19, 2007, 5:40 am

Kimbrell-Stern 2005
Date of Birth: December 14, 1906  
Date of Death: October 31, 2005  

Wotan Maximilian Zoellner, 98 of Beattie Rd. died October 31, 2005 at Phoebe 
Putney Memorial Hospital. A native of LaGrange, MO, Mr. Zoellner has lived in 
Albany since 1964, where he was a longtime member of St. Patrick’s Episcopal 
Church and Vestry member. He was also a member of the Albany Kiwanis Club. Mr. 
Zoellner along with his wife Dottie owned and operated Zoellner Music Co. in 
Albany since 1964. Mr. Zoellner was well known in the music and arts community 
in Albany. Soon after he and his wife opened the music store he was holding 
meetings in the store to form what is known as the Albany Symphony Orchestra. 
He served for many years as concertmaster, the principal first violinist of the 
orchestra. In 1908, at just two years old, Mr. Zoellner’s father put a bow in 
his hand and began teaching him to play the violin. Mr. Zoellner’s father 
encouraged him to practice 8 to10 hours a day. By the time Mr. Zoellner was 
four, he had performed his first concert and by age six he was performing 
Mendelssohn. A few years later he was sent to board with families in Chicago, 
St. Louis and New York City so that he could receive instruction from some of 
the greatest violinists, which include the famed Hungarian- born violinist and 
instructor, Leopold Auer. Mr. Auer taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 
Russia. He taught some of the most famous violinists, including Kathleen 
Parlow, Nathan Milstein and Mischa Elman. In 1929, Mr. Zoellner was in Palm 
Beach, Fla., entertaining the Rockefellers. It was common knowledge that if Mr. 
Rockefeller liked what he heard, he’d give the performer a dime. Mr. Zoellner 
left with a Rockefeller dime in his pocket that evening. At age 15, Mr. 
Zoellner’s studies were financed for a time by the Rotary Club of Mobile, AL 
which sent him to compete in New York City where he won the Juilliard Musical 
Foundation Society music prize of $1,000. He returned to win the prize again 
the following year. Newspaper clippings from his younger years attested to his 
being “unusually handsome” and proclaimed him a child prodigy, “the noted boy 
violinist” and one of the country’s leading players. The next 30 years were 
filled with performances and accolades. Mr. Zoellner’s musical talent led him 
to New York City’s Fifth Avenue studios of NBC radio, where he played live 
broadcasts for two years. By the early ‘60s, Mr. Zoellner moved to Pensacola, 
FL with his three brothers, where they operated music stores for many years. It 
was there that he charmed his beloved Dorothy a young divorced mother of three 
and while delivering a piano to Dorothy’s home, he was love- struck. The couple 
soon married and shared 46 happy years together. Mr. Zoellner lived to please 
his audience, and did just that by performing the day before his death at St. 
Patrick’s Episcopal Church. What a wonderful legacy he has left, and will be 
truly missed by his family, friends, and audiences across this land. Survivors 
include his daughters, Mary N. Shapard and her husband Tom of Albany, Karen N. 
Sinderson and her husband Thomas of Rockville, MD, son, William Ernest 
Nordstrom and his wife Patricia of LaCrescenta, CA, four grandchildren, Ross 
Nix and his wife Kellie, Ryan Nix and his wife Jackie, Nancy Rojas and her 
husband Hector, and Edward Sinderson, four great-grandchildren, Chandler Nix, 
Nicole Rojas, Christine Rojas and Alex Rojas, brother, Max Zoellner and his 
wife Marjorie of Pensacola, FL, sister-in-law, Carol D. Jones, two nieces, 
Yvonne walker and Maxine Burke, nephew, Max Zoellner, Jr. Those desiring, 
please make memorials to St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church Building Fund, P.O. Box 
70698, Albany, GA 31708. 

The memorial service will be Thursday 11 AM at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church. 
The Rev. Dr. James R. Bullion officiating.

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