(December 5, 1919-November 16, 2005)

Irene V. Wood, 85, widow of the Rev. William C. Wood, died Wednesday at Heritage Health Care Center, Utica.

Mrs. Wood and her husband spent 32 years serving churches and communities in various locations in New York state, including Norwood and West Potsdam from 1943 to 1950 and Gouverneur and North Gouverneur from 1950 to 1959.

She was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, was a church choir director and Sunday school teacher and was a caregiver at the Masonic Home in Utica and for children.

Born Dec. 5, 1919, in Oswego, she was a daughter of Charles and Reva Demass Van Vleck.

She married the Rev. Mr. Wood on May 12, 1940, at Hannibal. He died Nov. 27, 1972, in Utica, where he had been serving as pastor of Central United Methodist Church since 1959.

Surviving are two daughters and a son-in-law, Barbara W. Morey, Utica, and Joyce W. and David Ross, Roanoke, Va.; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Friedel, Williams, Coriale & Edmunds Funeral Home, Utica. Spring burial will be in Oswego Rural Cemetery.

(From the Friday, November 18, 2005 edition of the Watertown Daily Times, page D5).