Dr. John Leonard Pyron

Macon, GA -John Leonard Pyron, DDS, FAGD, MAGD, formerly of Avondale Estates, Georgia, died January 28, 2005.  He was 89 years old.  Funeral services will be held in the chapel of A. S. Turner & Sons, Decatur, Georgia at 2 pm, Monday, January 31, 2005.  Rev. Clay Bowden will officiate.  The family will receive friends from 12 noon to 2 pm Monday at A. S. Turner & Sons.  Graveside services will be held Tuesday, 2 pm CST at Pine Bluff Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery, Locust Fork, AL.  Dr. Pyron was preceded in death by his wife of 65 years, Reba Reid Pyron.  He is survived by a son, James Walton Pyron; a daughter, Janice Pyron Senkbeil, and; four grandsons, Michael Lawrence Pyron, David Walton Pyron, Bryan Thomas Wagoner, and Chandler McCall Wagoner.  Dr. Pyron was born in Birmingham, Alabama May 9, 1915.  He received a Bachelor of Arts in 1936 from Birmingham-Southern and a Master's Degree in Education from the University of Florida in 1942.  He taught Science and coached basketball in Alabama and Florida from 1936 to 1940.  He served as Principal from 1940 to 1946 in Florida and Tennessee.  Dr. Pyron later graduated from Emory University School of Dentistry in 1948.  He practiced at Joan Glancy Memorial Hospital until 1951, at which time he began a tour of duty as a 1st Lt. in the U.S. Army Dental Corps at Ft. Benning, GA and Okinawa, Japan.  He returned to private practice in 1953 at Joan Glancy Hospital where he resumed his devotion to dentistry.  In 1981, Dr. Pyron was recognized as one of only five dentists in Georgia to receive the prestigious Mastership in the Academy of General Dentistry.  The Georgia Dental Association recognized him for 50 years of continuous service in dentistry in 1998.  Dr. Pyron touched the lives of many people throughout his careers in education, coaching, and dentistry, and was loved and respected by all.  He will be especially remembered as a devoted husband and loving father.  A. S. Turner & Sons