Published in The Enterprise, May 28, 2004

RUSSELL B. WOODARD, 82

(picture) (veteran)

Washington County native Russell B. Woodard, 82, of Jefferson, Iowa, died May 23, 2004, at the Greene County Medical Center in Jefferson.

Funeral services were Wednesday, May 26, at the first United Methodist Church in Jefferson, and interment was in the Blair Cemetery.

Russell Burton Woodard was born April 13, 1922, on a farm northeast of Kennard, to Howard E. and Helen R. (Nelson) Woodard.

In 1926, he moved with his parents to Blair. He graduated from Blair High School in the spring of 1939. Upon graduation, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in which he spent one year. In 1940, he was employed as a plumber’s helper with the Farnburg Hardware Store in Blair, and was discharged from the CCCs. In 1941, he became employed with the Chicago Northwestern Railroad as a station attendant and worked for them until joining the U.S. Navy in 1942.

After boot camp at the U. S. Training Center in Chicago, he was sent to radio school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisc. He was assigned to the USS Princeton for his tour of duty. His 1945 tour of duty was spent at the U.S. Navy Air Station in Daytona Beach, Fla. In January 1946, he was discharged from the Navy at Jacksonville, Fla. After his discharge, he returned to Blair and returned to work for the CNW Railroad as an agent telegrapher.

On Sept. 16, 1946, he married Lois T. Hobbs of Quinlan, Okla., whom he met on his tour of duty at Daytona Beach.

In 1963, he resigned from the CNW Railroad and took a sales position with Moorman Mfg.Co. He was promoted to a district manager position which brought him to Jefferson, Iowa. After leaving Moorman Mfg., he took a position with Sieg Auto Parts in 1969 where he was employed for nine years. He then took a position with the Greene County Medical Center, from which he retired in 1986.

Mr. Woodard had been a member of the American Legion at Posts in Blair and Verdigre, also many years at Post 11 in Jefferson. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church, Jefferson. He also held a member ship with The Lion’s Club for many years.

He is survived by his wife, Lois; two daughters and a son-in-law, Barbara and Gary Horacek of Omaha, and Elizabeth Wright of Pleasant Hill, Iowa; four granddaughters and their families; a step-granddaughter and one step-grandson; five great-grandchildren; six step-great-grandchildren; two brothers and sisters-in-law, Howard and Virginia Woodard of South Gate, Calif., and Jim and Kay Woodard of Blair; two sisters and a brother-in-law, Virginia Welch and friend, Mel Pribble, of Lakewood, Colo; and Doris and Ray English, Albuquerque, N.M.; other relatives and many friends.

Mr. Woodard was preceded in death by two sisters, Hazel Stubbs and Phyllis Carson.