Plan for the Future
William (‘Bill’) Colston, a resident of Pennington, New Jersey, died peacefully on October 9, 2021 surrounded by his three daughters.
Bill was born William Carroll Colston in Rocky Mount, North Carolina to Elma and Carroll Colston. He attended Davidson College in Davidson, NC majoring in biology and chemistry, graduating Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his medical degree from Duke University in Durham, NC, completed his radiology training at New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center in New York City, and practiced as an attending radiologist at Morristown Medical Center from 1968-2010 in Morristown NJ. He especially enjoyed his tenure as director of the radiology residency program at Morristown Medical Center where he received numerous teaching awards.
Bill met his beloved wife Kathleen, a native New Yorker, when he was a medical student at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and working at the Eastover Resort in Massachusetts during the summer of 1959 and she was a guest. After years of courting, and Bill driving from Durham to New York City to visit Kathleen, they married on June 6, 1962. They started their family with the birth of their daughter Liz in 1965 and their family expanded with their daughter Caroline, born in 1966, and their daughter Katie, born in 1973. Bill and Kathleen made homes in Jacksonville, Florida when he was a lieutenant with the Navy, in New York City when he was a radiology resident, and in Morristown where they lived for decades. In recent years after he retired and Kathleen passed away, Bill relocated to Brandywine Senior Living in Pennington, NJ to be nearer to his daughters and grandchildren.
Bill was an avid tennis player and enthusiast of the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, and old classic movies. He enjoyed these activities with his family year after year. Bill was actively involved with the Peck School, Kent Place School, Morris County Golf Club, and Morris Museum. Those who knew Bill appreciated his slight Southern accent, which made you feel at ease, his peerless patience and kindness, which were shown to everyone he encountered, and his gentle and quiet spirit.
A devoted husband, father, and grandfather, he is survived by his daughters – Liz Colston of Pennington, NJ, Caroline Colston of Pennington, NJ, and Katie Valentiner and husband David Valentiner of Charlotte, NC, as well as his grandchildren – Christopher and William Titus, and Callie Valentiner.
