Graham Weathers is the eldest son of Ora Edith Bumgardner and Dr. B. G. Weathers, Sr.
who came to Stanley in 1929 and opened a medical practice.
Graham attended the local Stanley Schools and in 1953 went to New York to study piano
under Edwin Hughs. In that same year he received a Bachelor of Science Degree from Wake Forest
University.
With the intent of entering the Baptist Ministry he attended the Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary from 1953 until 1956 as well as a summer session in 1955 at the University of Louisville in
Louisville, KY.
Eventually he realized his calling appeared to be in medicine, though, and he attended Virginia
Commonwealth University where he received a Doctorate of Medicine in 1960. Dr. B. Graham Weathers,
Jr. practiced his internship in 1960-61 at Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, NC.
Dr. Weathers, Jr. returned to Stanley to live and in 1961 joined his father in his medical practice.
After his father's death, Dr. Weathers continued the practice in the house on South Main Street that
had originally been the home and office of Dr. F. V. Taylor. After a few years there obviously was a
need for expansion of the office. Dr. Weathers built a new L-shaped building, incorporating the old
house that had held his father's offices, with a courtyard in the center. The practice was named
Stanley Medical Associates.
In 1994, Stanley Medical Associates was purchased by Gaston Health Care, Inc., a parent company of
Gaston Memorial Hospital. Dr. Graham Weathers, Jr. and his associates continue to work for the
practice.
Dr. Weathers was extremely interested in art, especially sculpture, in his spare time. In order to
improve himself in that endeavor he studied casting techniques of bronze and aluminum at Gaston
Community College in 1967, 68, 69, & 71. Later he attended summer sessions at the Art Students
League of New York in Drawing and Sculpture. In 1980 he received a B.C.A. Degree/Art from the
University of North Carolina in Charlotte.
A bronze bust entitled "A Grant Whitney Tribute" was commissioned for Freedom Park in Charlotte,
NC in 1987. Also that year he did "The Window" for the Centennial Commission Gaston County Medical
Auxiliary for Gaston Memorial Hospital.
In 1989 Dr. Weathers sculpted a life size full figure of Queen Charlotte and her dogs walking in her
garden. Before embarking on his project he studied the life of the woman from Mecklenburg-Strelitz
in Germany for whom the city of Charlotte was named. Dr. and Mrs. Weathers visited London in June
of 1988 to learn what they could about Queen Charlotte, visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum,
the National Portrait Gallery and her palace at Kew Gardens where she died in 1820. The sculpture
was unveiled on 26 January 1989 and is permanently exhibited in front of the Charlotte Apparel Center.
In December 1994 as a pre-Christmas gift Dr. Weathers presented to UNC Charlotte a bust of Queen
Charlotte as she looked in her mid-30's. A miniature of Queen Charlotte was commissioned and sailed
aboard the USS Charlotte in 1995. It will become a part of the National Archives of the Smithsonian.
A miniature sculpted by Dr. Weathers is also in the collection of Queen Charlotte Hospital, London,
England and another in the collection of Mirow Castle, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Germany.
His art is exhibited in several cities in North and South Carolina as well as other cities in the
United States. His sculpted angels, commissioned by the United House of Prayer for All People,
are mounted and exhibited at that organization's churches across the country from Charlotte, North
Carolina to San Francisco, California. One of the angels is also a part of the permanent collection
of The Anacostia Museum in Washington, DC.
Dr. Weathers' art has been exhibited in Stanley in Christ's Lutheran Church and a bust of Police
Chief Ralph Handsel is in the lobby of the Stanley Town Hall. A bust of Dr. B. G, Weathers, Sr. is
on exhibit in Dr. Weathers, Jr.'s office. A bronze bust of Ted Smith, past Presbyterian Minister,
was commissioned for Stanley Total Living Center and a bust was sculpted of a beloved teacher,
Mrs. Myrtle Wallace. On September 14, 1998 he presented to the town of Stanley a bust of Police
Chief Donald Davis.
Dr. Bailey Graham Weathers, Jr. is the father of three sons, Bailey, David, and Robert, all from a
first marriage. He is married to the former Gail Dahner and they and their son, Joseph, live on
Weathers Drive in Stanley.
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