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Chester Solez, MD, age 95, passed away Jan. 30 in Guilford. He was born May 6, 1923, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of the late Gertrude Solez and Chester Solez, Sr., of Brooklyn, New York.

He is survived by daughter Wanda Levin (Robert) of Burnsville, NC; son, Kim Solez (Elaine) of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; 5 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. He was pre-deceased by his wife Janet Dwinell Solez, and one sister, Mildred Belle Sareyan (Solez).

Janet and Chester were married Dec. 10, 1944, in Bradford, Vermont. From 1954 to 1966, they lived in Avoca, New York, where Chester worked as a cardiologist at the VA hospital in the adjacent community of Bath, New York. Chester and Janet also lived in Washington, DC, Togus, Maine, Narragansett and Providence, Rhode Island, Clarksburg, West Virginia, Erie, Pennsylvania (VA hospital where he rose to be chief of medicine and chief of staff), Milford, and, most recently, Guilford. His first published article (of 8) in the medical literature was in the New England Journal of Medicine Feb. 10, 1949, on salt-losing nephritis simulating adrenocortical insufficiency, a kidney medicine subject. He is remembered by those who worked with him at the VA as “a wonderful doctor, so approachable, willing to answer questions and very intelligent.”

In recent years he renewed his interest in poetry, which included these lines he said most days looking at the natural beauty outside:

I thank thee for another day

For my being part of the ocean of bliss now and forever

Interbeing, interconnectedness, inter-dependent,

At one with the universe, at one-ment atonement.

His poem “I Am Not a House” stimulated another poet to write the poem “I Am Not A Car.” “I Am Not a House” starts:

I have a house. I am not a homeless person but I am not a house.

I have thoughts. I am not a thoughtless being, but I am not thoughts.

I have a body. I am not a disembodied spirit but I am not a body.

I am not a body. I am free, I am still as God created me.

I am a spiritual being having a human experience.

I am not a separate being, I am a unique wave of the ocean.

I am part of the ocean of bliss now and forever.

There is no small isolated self to dissolve,

There is only the notion of such self to transcend.

I am part of the great self,

The ground of being,

God and all God’s creation.

… neither do we cease to exist when our body dies

Our existence following bodily death does not lose value.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing in Chester’s life was the trip around the world he took with his mother and sister from February to September 1933 from New York City with destinations Madeira just off Portugal, Casablanca, Gibraltar, Cadiz and Seville Spain, Algiers, Monaco, Naples, Mount Vesuvius, the ruins of Carthage and Tunisia, Suez Canal, Red Sea, Bombay, India, Taj Mahal, Delhi, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Manilla, Shanghai, Japan, Tokyo, Nara, Hawaii, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Panama Canal, Cuba, and back to New York City. This led to a lifelong interest in history and cultures of the world that was apparent every day of his adult life.

The family wishes to thank the caregivers who showed such kindness to Chester in his final years.

Funeral and burial services will be held privately with immediate family only. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to a charity of your choice. Arrangements in the care of the Guilford Funeral Home. To share a memory or leave a message of condolence for the family, please visit www.GuilfordFuneralHome.com.