Leroy "Woody" Mell Wood

Leroy Mell Wood, “Woody”, was born May 24, 1932, to Ishmael and Maudie Wood in Reydon, OK. His older brothers, Odell Wood and Billy Dale Wood, preceded him in death. In his early years, the family moved from Reydon to manage a farm in Logan County. He attended school at Rock Mound and eventually graduated from Edmond High School. Woody met his future wife, Jo Frances Gibson at Tinker Air Force Base, where they both began work following high school. They were married on Dec. 2, 1951, at the Marshall Street Church of Christ in Midwest City. Woody and Jo Frances were instrumental in planting the Del City Church of Christ, where they served faithfully for 73 years. Before their first anniversary, duty called, and Woody deployed to Korea to serve in the Army. Following his return from duty, Woody and Jo Frances raised two children, Karen Farrell (husband Paul) and Kevin Wood (wife Christie). Woody delighted in his grandkids, Madison Banks and wife Sarah, Brian Wood, and Ciarra Wood. In the last five years since moving to Edmond, they worshiped at the New Hope church of Christ while maintaining their “legacy membership” at Del City. Several people at New Hope had been at Del City at some point and were so thrilled to reconnect with them.

If you asked Woody what his priorities were in life, he would respond: God, family, and service to the Lord’s church. He served faithfully through the years as a deacon, song leader, Bible class teacher, and participated in many other works. His focus was always on what he could do next for the Lord and His church. Woody was a man driven by duty and setting the proper example to love the Lord and his fellow man.

Woody’s hobbies included a deep love for music and joyous adventures at Lake Tenkiller, in Gore, Oklahoma. During his teen years, his love for the steel guitar was born, he would listen to it over the radio and decided that he wanted to play. He was blessed with a talent for music, being able to play by ear. He took an old plywood guitar that his brother had found and retrofitted it into a lap steel. As the story goes, he broke the handle off one of his mom’s kitchen knives and used it as slide bar for his newly fashioned steel guitar. That did not go over well with her at the time, but she would always laugh about it later. Woody’s love for music led him to eventually play on the radio and later for local TV shows like “Jude N Jody” and the “The McCain Brothers”. Lake Tenkiller was home away from home as Woody and Jo joined several young families from Del City spending every vacation moment together camping, fishing, skiing, and eating homemade ice cream at the lake. On Sunday’s, they would worship outside, bringing folding chairs, and inviting others to come join. These joyous trips were grounded in their love for the Lord. “Skipping church” was not in Woody’s vocabulary. It didn’t matter where he was, service to the Lord was top priority.

Woody retired from his career at Tinker Air Force Base as a computer analyst at age fifty-five. His aptitude in learning computer programming technology was equally as amazing as his musical talent. He was trained extensively by Tinker and excelled at every level.

Woody lived his whole life to serve God and take care of others. He loved the Lord with all his heart and therefore, his family benefited from that. He always worked tirelessly to make sure they were grounded in the faith and secure in his loving care. We now rejoice as he has gone on to his reward, in the arms of Christ. He has finished the race and is victorious through Christ his Savior.