Dr. James L. "Jim" Flatt

Dr. James Lynn Flatt
June 2, 1935 -July 20, 2025

Most obituaries show timelines of someone's life with a few personal details. As the daughter of
the deceased, I (Gina) choose to instead talk about who he was, what his life meant and the
lives he affected.

For just shy of 67 years, he was a loving husband to Wylia Jo, and Daddy to Gina and Jana.
Wylia was his rock and anchor throughout their entire life together, a bond that grew ever
stronger with time. Whether it was finding where he left his car keys and wallet, or ensuring he
had everything he needed for the day, he knew he owed any ease of tasks to her. As a Dad, he
taught about love of nature, care for animals, and respect for everyone. He was a gentle man, a
kind man, and one who could see the good in almost anyone. Growing up we lived in Blue
Mountain, MS and as the resident 'science guy' people would bring us baby wildlife that fell out
of nests, trees with nests that were disrupted or chopped down. I was hooked on biology from
the first baby squirrel! We had everything from gray and flying squirrels, rabbits, reptiles, to a
pair of barn owls to an ant farm...basically anything with fur, feathers, wings, or a shell.
Somehow we always figured out a way to keep them alive until they could be reintroduced into
the wild. I remember my dad carefully putting a gray squirrel that had been hit by a car under
with ether, very gently cleaning his wounds and stitching him up as best he could. It was
paralyzed, but lived a full life in our house, then our front yard in a special little tree house. My
Dad had a kind heart. When he accidentally ordered live frogs for his lab instead of the ones in
jars, he organized a big 'Frog Jumping Event' with enthusiastic teams and frog races. The frogs
then went to live in the big pond in front of the campus.

Higher education was always important to my dad because he wanted to teach. As a fresh out
of college teacher with diploma barely dry, he taught multiple grades at Millsfield school until he
was offered a job at Dyersburg High School. He LOVED teaching and science. Since the
Russians launched Sputnik in 1957, the US was eager to catch up. Science grants and
scholarships were available and he was quick to take advantage, receiving his Masters Degree
at Vanderbilt and later his PhD from University of Southern Mississippi. He always felt that
teaching was both his vocation and his advocation. One of his life highlights occurred early in
his career when he was able to spend a couple of days with Dr. Werner Von Braun, the father of
modern rocketry and who quite literally put man on the moon. Meeting Dr. Von Braun brought
home the important role space science played in him having his own career. My Dad was a very
hard worker and taught in 2 colleges in 2 states (Blue Mountain College and Dyersburg State
Community College) for almost 50 years, finally retiring when he was 80 years old. His focus at
that time was teaching nurses and people going into medical fields. His students constantly
energized his passion for teaching. He always claimed to have the best colleagues and students
imaginable. He tried to retire twice before it stuck because students kept petitioning for him to
teach 'just one more year'.

He was stationed in Heidelberg during his time in the Army and had the opportunity to, teach at
the John F Kennedy School in Berlin when I was in high school. Thanks to him for taking me with him, my lifelong quest to see the world was sparked.

He loved to travel to Germany, spoke fluent German and kept in practice with friends in Dyersburg until recent years. There were also
many trips to Alaska to visit me over the past 44 years. He saw the wilds of Alaska by car, small
airplanes, trains, and boats.

A couple of passions that most people wouldn't know about him...He kept a journal every day
for over 60 years. Those journals were always overflowing with photos, momentos, paper
clippings and whatever else made that day important to him. He was also quite an artist. He
began drawing cartoons as a child. Some of his books had characters in the top corner of the
pages that moved, juggled balls, or chased hoops as you flipped the pages. There was a period
where he painted beautiful oils and acrylic work, but he returned to his love of cartoons. He
developed his own original 'Flattheads', which are a series of interconnected faces. Some are
human, some animal, some bugs, aliens or dinosaurs. It was always fun to watch him draw. He
would be sketching away and start laughing...he said he never knew what or who was coming
out of the pen onto the paper and some of the characters would make him laugh. Each had very
distinct personalities and character traits. Some characters repeated often, some occasionally,
and some only once or infrequently. Daddy also loved Andy Griffin, Jimmy Stewart, pp old
movies, and easy listening music.

Too many dear relatives departed before him, but he leaves behind his wife of almost 67 years,
Wylia Jo, daughters Gina Hollomon (Anchorage, Alaska), and Jana Flatt. His life-long hero and
brother, Dr. Bill Flatt (Marihope) of Athens, Georgia. There are a long line of much loved dogs
that preceded him, Sasha is the one he leaves behind. She spent many hours laying by his side
during his final chapter. Rest in love and peace Daddy. You are so loved and will be missed
forever.

Please feel free to make donations in his name to either Blue Mountain College's or Dyersburg
State's Nursing programs.