Dr. Marshall Simms Redding

Dr. Marshall Simms Redding, born October 14, 1934, passed away age 90 on Monday, January 20, 2025, at Cone Health Wesley Long Hospital after a brief illness. A native of Guilford County, he was the son of the late Herbert Monroe Redding and Ernestine Fulgham Redding, and the youngest of their 7 children.

He graduated from McLeansville High School in 1953 and then attended Duke University from 1954 – 1958 with a major in Chemistry. While at Duke, he met Bobbie Newman who was studying at UNC Chapel Hill, and they married on June 2, 1957. In April 1958, he joined the Navy Aviation Cadet Program in Pensacola, Florida, and in December 1959 was assigned to Fleet Air Wing 14 at San Diego, California, supporting the mission to guard the Southern Sector and West Coast. By 1962 he was a Navy Lieutenant with two young children when he was accepted at Duke University Medical School. He graduated in 1966. He completed his internship at the US Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia, and a residency in Ophthalmology at the US Naval Hospital in Philadelphia and at Wills Eye Hospital.

In January 1969, Lieutenant Commander Redding transferred to the US Naval Hospital in Long Beach, California where he specialized in cataract procedures and developed a love of medical innovation. He studied under pioneer Dr. Hirshman to perform intraocular surgery, and with Dr. Sinisky on One Hand Phacoemulsification, another procedure to simplify cataract surgery.

He brought these pioneering techniques with him when he set up his own practice in September 1971 in Elizabeth City, NC, where he was the only ophthalmologist in a 10-county area in the northeastern NC. He worked with their Lion’s Clubs to purchase and outfit a special- order mobile van to provide state-of-the-art medical eye care to their underserved communities.

Dr. Redding took on leadership roles locally and state-wide while expanding his practice. He was the first doctor to be appointed to the Albemarle Hospital Board of Trustees in Elizabeth City in 1974, and was Chairman from 1979 – 1985, expanding into the Outer Banks to create a Regional Medical Center for Northeast North Carolina. He also continued to serve in the Navy Reserves and was promoted to Captain in January 1981 when he assumed command of the Medical Contingency Response at Little Creek, VA, until he retired from the Navy in September 1983. He was elected President of the North Carolina Ophthalmological Society in 1981, and President of the North Carolina Medical Society in 1982-83. In 1983 he married Alice Meads Chappell who supported him as he was expanding his practice in the region. At the peak of his practice, Dr. Redding and Alice were living on the beautiful Pasquotank River with her 3 children, and running offices in Elizabeth City, Edenton, Kill Devil Hills, and one in Norfolk, VA. He was still flying light aircraft, and even trained to fly a Robinson R22 helicopter which he used to fly to his offices.

In November of 2011, Dr. Redding relocated to the Gibsonville-Burlington, NC area where he rekindled his cooking and gardening hobbies. He also continued working with other ophthalmology practices until he suffered a major stroke in 2013. In retirement, he wrote his memoires and continued to teach and lecture locally, until his death. 

Survivors include his first wife Bobbie Redding (m1957-81) and their two daughters Joan Redding (Greenall), husband Matthew and children Aiden & Laura; Rebecca Redding Greene & husband Paul; second wife Alice Redding (m1983-2008) and step-children Chap, Tangie, and Kimberly and their families; nieces and nephews Richard Redding, Joyce Wilkie, Joe Redding, Robert Redding, Darlene Redding, and Jim Crook and their families. 

The family would like to acknowledge his many friends and neighbors at Abbey Glenn and Holiday Cedar Ridge who made the final chapters of his life such a joy. They shared his love of cooking, gardening, and enabled him to continue both, even after his stroke.

A funeral service will be held at 11:00AM on Friday, January 24, 2025, in the chapel at Lowe Funeral Home by Rev. Jeff Hill with the entombment to follow in the Alamance Memorial Park Mausoleum. The family will receive friends from 10:00 – 10:45 prior to the service at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to support wounded veterans/first responders: Gary Sinise Foundation https://www.garysinisefoundation.org OR Wounded Warriors Project https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org