Owen Wood died early morning on Sunday, August 12th, 2018 at 81 years of age. Owen was born on August 20, 1936 in Westbrook, Maine. Owen resided at Riderwood Retirement Community with his wife of 56 years Nancy Belden Wood. He is survived by his wife, three children, and 6 grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at Riderwood Chapel on Saturday, Sept. 8th, 2018.
Owen Leslie Wood was born to Owen Ellis and Dora Rines Wood in Westbrook, Maine. Owen was the oldest of the Wood siblings, Janice, Merle, Edith and Norman (deceased.)
Owen graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, with a B.A. degree in History and Philosophy in 1958. He enlisted in the US Navy and served as a laboratory technician and hospitalman from 1960-1965. He graduated from the Naval Medical School course in Clinical Laboratory and Blood Bank at the US Naval Hospital in Bethesda, MD, and worked as a technician in the Virology Division of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology at Walter Reed Hospital, Washington, before being assigned to the troop transport vessel USNS General Simon B. Bruckner. He made 12 voyages from the Brooklyn Army Terminal to Bremerhaven, Germany, and return.
In January 1965, he was discharged from the Navy and entered the Graduate School at Yale University where he received degrees on Master of Philosophy (1968) and Doctor of Philosophy (1972) both in Public Health. From 1970 to 1973 he was Assistant Professor of Microbiology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. In 1973 he activated his reserve commission in the Navy and accepted an appointment to serve as a virologist in the US Naval Medical Research Unit, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Owen was also stationed in New Haven, CT at Yale University in 1977 and Cairo, Egypt in 1979.
In 1983, Owen moved his family stateside to Rockville, MD and lived there until they sold their house in 2014 and moved to Riderwood Retirement Community in Silver Spring, MD.
Owen is survived by wife Nancy of Silver Spring, MD, his three children and their spouses Mark and Jeanie Leslie Estes of San Antonio, Texas, Brian and Betsy Wood Boyd of Dallas Texas, and Andrew and Sheryl Wood of Rockville, MD. Owen was blessed with six grandchildren. Emily, Julie and Mark Thomas Estes; Benjamin Boyd; and, Matthew and Katie Wood. He was loved by his wife’s family and his brother-in-law, Allen Belden of Richmond VA., as well as his nieces and nephews and their families scattered throughout the country.
Owen was very involved in his Church, St. Marks, his sailing club and his train club. He also enjoyed fishing and spent most of August in Maine doing such. Owen loved to fix things and work with his hands. As you can see by the stories people have told about his life, he was an influential teacher and you could always count on him for interesting conversation.
• Hines Rinaldi is handling the funeral arrangements https://www.dignitymemorial.com/support-friends-and-family
