What happened to Uncle Joe - My Womack Mystery

My great uncle Joseph E. Womack was born in 1905 in North Carolina. He was my great-grandfather's son by his first wife Sallie Jane Briggs.

My grandfather told me his older half siblings left home as soon as they were grown and he knew three of them moved to Durham. I examined the 1930 census and found Joseph living with his sister Bella and his brother Robert. After that the trail goes cold..I have no idea where Joseph went. One day as I'm researching I say to my grandfather I can't find Joseph anywhere. He tells me I have to look for Joseph Kurt. Apparently Joseph met a Professor Kurt who my grandfather said put him through school and he moved to New York and changed his last name to Kurt. No one seems to know what became of Uncle Joe and I have yet to find him.