Ira G. "Woody" Woodward Jr.

Mr. Ira G. "Woody" Woodward Jr., age 84 years, of Jefferson City, Mo., died Friday, August 5, 2011, at St. Mary's Health Center. Woody was born September 19, 1926, in Clay County, Ark., the son of Ira G. Sr. and Angie Thraham Woodward. He was married on January 12, 1944, in Kennett, Mo., to Clara M. Jackson. Woody graduated from Rector High School in Rector, Ark. He served in the United States Army from 1944 until 1947 and was honorably discharged as a Sergeant. He was a long time minister with the Church of Christ in Caruthersville, Mo. and the surrounding area of southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas including Pocahontas and Mammoth Springs. He also served in the Jefferson City, Fulton, Belle, and Crocker area of central Missouri. He had been an active member of the Dix Road Church of Christ and the Fairgrounds Road Church of Christ since moving to Jefferson City. Woody worked for many years as a lineman for the Arkansas-Missouri Power Company along the Arkansas-Missouri border from Caruthersville, Mo. to Mammoth Springs, Ark. He was the manager of a soda bottling company in Caruthersville, Mo. for two years. He then entered the life insurance business in Arkansas and Illinois where he spent several years in Springfield, Ill. Woody moved his family to Jefferson City in 1963, where he was a founding member and President of Mark Twain Life Insurance Company prior to his retirement in1971. In 1969, he started to develop the Woodward Lake Subdivision on the west side of Jefferson City. From 1977 until 1982, he and his son Gary ran the Western Auto Associate Store in Eldon, Mo. He completed Woodward Lake Subdivision in 2002. Woody loved to hunt and fish in Missouri, Arkansas, South Dakota, and Colorado. Survivors include: his wife of 67 years, Clara; three children, Gary Woodward and his wife Bernice Jean of Jefferson City, Mo., Lucretia Wooton and her husband Paul of Huntington Beach, Calif., and Angelia Wyatt of Vichy, Mo.; seven grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; one son, Gilbert E. Woodward; one brother, Jack Woodward; three sisters, Wilma Morris, Joyce Roush, and Jean Poppy; and one son-in-law, Wesley Wyatt. Visitation will be at Freeman Mortuary from 12:30 until 2:00 p.m., Monday, August 8, 2011. Funeral services will be conducted at 2:00 p.m., Monday, August 8, 2011, in the Freeman Chapel with Mr. Carey Terry and the Reverend Dr. Stephen Buchholz officiating. Graveside services and interment with military honors will be at Hawthorn Memorial Gardens. Those desiring may make memorial contributions to the Children's Home, Inc. of Paragould, Ark. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Freeman Mortuary. www.freemanmortuary.com