Marjorie Jean Woodfin Wood, 96, of Huntsville, Alabama, passed away surrounded by loved ones on June 27, 2022.
Jean was born November 26, 1925, to Richard Henry and Martha Elizabeth Woodfin in Marion, Alabama, and grew up with seven brothers and sisters on a farm in Perry County. Her farming skills were suspect, although she and her brothers and sisters did raise a large pet alligator. After graduating from Perry County High School, Jean went on to study art at Judson College in Marion. Love and World War II intervened as Jean married her lifelong love, Charles Wood, before he left for duty in the Pacific theater. Their extended family adventure began upon his return with the birth of their daughter Carolyn, and continued merrily along with the birth of Nancy, Buzz and David, over the next sixteen years. Thereafter, Jean’s art career blossomed. As she moved from oil painting, into acrylics, mixed media and then watercolors, she also began teaching art in the studio that she constructed and participating in art shows, including a mother-daughter exhibition with Carolyn at the Parthenon in Nashville. She also hosted art workshops with various national artists and was a member of the Huntsville Art League for many years. In 2004, Judson College presented her with its outstanding alumni of the year award.
Jean had a lifelong commitment to helping others on a personal and social level, with her art shows raising funds for the Cancer Society, the Epilepsy Foundation, the Arthritis Foundation, the Kidney Foundation, the American Heart Association, the Alabama Boys Ranch, the Humane Society, and the Guatemala Children’s Foundation. She played a positive force in many people’s lives: she was a wonderful mother, an enthusiastic teacher, a volunteer giving her time and talent to worthy causes, and an artist who illustrated her feelings and her life and shared it with so many. Throughout it all, her fascination with the natural world and art remained lifelong passions, being stimulated by many golden days at Smith Lake in her later life.
Jean was predeceased by her husband and is survived by her four children, Carolyn Larsen (Tom), Nancy Mitchell (predeceased by Jim), Buzz Wood (Karan) and David Wood (Sheila); her grandchildren, Jessica (Kalesh), Tom (Lorelle), Jamie (Bernadette), Liz, Katy, Charlie, Justin and Dylan; and her great-grandchildren, Orion, Cedar, Talia and Jane.
A memorial service will be held in celebration of her life on Saturday July 9 at 10:30 am at Latham United Methodist Church in Huntsville.
