Memorial to John
John Ralph Wood was the first child also the first son to Ralph and Regis Wood.....He had 9 siblings......Richard, Paul, Rita, Raymond, Peter, Mark, Jerome, Regina, Thomas. During World War II he enlisted in the Army Air Force and served for three years and was discharged in 1945... After returning home he found employment with a company that was building the Union Village Dam. It was while he worked there that I had met him where I worked, but that is not when and where we took up a lasting relationship. Following the completion of that dam, he then worked for the B&M Railroad at White River Jct. for 12 years. It was while he was on this job that we met again during my graduation time and our relationship then took a serious turn and we were married in April of 1950. In 1957 and with 6 young children we moved to California where John was employed with Douglas Aircraft at Mojave. After 3 years we moved back to Vermont now with 8 children..... While there we were members of St Mary of the Desert Church in Rosamond...then moved to attend the Sacred Heart Church of Lancaster, Ca.
Upon our return to Vermont, we then settled in Quechee and John began working for the US Postal Service... We purchased a home and lived there for 9 years and during this time we became parents to 4 more babies...bringing our number of children to 12. In 1969, we had an opportunity to move to Sharon into a country setting and we thought this was a good idea with the young children, although by then, the two oldest were seniors in high school. John felt this would give all the children the opportunity to learn about animals and gardening...and the necessary lessons for survival; of which he did both, planting big gardens and raised beef cattle for about 8 years...then there were also a period of time raising chickens; and I don't want to leave out the rabbit business that Michelle had an interest in. Besides his postal work and getting involved with all this kept him busy plus doing all that was necessary to care for the cattle, getting involved with mowing of hay, etc. He retired from the Postal Service in 1986 and, then, wanted to do a bit of construction work. He bought the equipment and enjoyed doing this as a hobby, as well as he wanted to help his children who were now getting married and building homes
In 1991 he began to develop health problems and his construction business, called Jude Construction was finally closed out by 1997. We bought a home in Virginia and moved in late December 1998 to Fredericksburg, VA. He could only return to Vermont once after leaving there during the summer of 1999 and his health did not allow another trip to Vermont. He was blessed during the 2-1/2 years that he was here in Fredericksburg to have many visits from his children who came to spend time with him and 5 were with him at his last minutes with us.
Over the years John loved hunting and he had a gun collection that he enjoyed for years. After his health was not allowing him to enjoy all these things as much, he turned to another hobby which was the computer. He knew nothing about computers but over the next 9 years he had nearly mastered it.....was able to maintain it when it crashed and much more. He truly enjoyed all that it offered to connect him with the outside world and he spent his time there to the very day he went to the hospital for the final time. His health never could improve and he passed away on October 24, 2001 at Mary Washington Hospital with several members of his family at his side. While here in Virginia he was a member of St Mary of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. He was taken back to Vermont where his funeral was held at St. Anthony's Catholic Church where he had been a life long communicant. His interment was at the Vermont Veterans Cemetery, Randolph Center, Vermont.
At the time of his death on October 24,2001, He is survived by his wife of 51-1/2 years and his 12 children: Maureen, Michael, Michelle, Matthew, Marc, Mitchell, Marshall, Monica, Martin, Miles, Montgomery, Maria. He left 31 grandchildren and several great grandchildren. He was predeceased by an infant grandson, John Albert Wood. REST IN PEACE my dear John......until one day we are all together again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I would like to invite anyone who remember John to leave a memory of him to share on this Memorial page dedicated to him. Thank you in advance for your kind thoughts and memories. Regina
