Charles Eugene Wood, known as Eugene, died on April 19, 2021 in Durant, Okla. Mr. Wood was born January 5, 1924 in Mississippi to Charles Rush Wood and Rosa Mae McGuire Wood. At a young age he moved with his family to Georgia and then to southern Kansas. Mr. Wood graduated from Towanda, Kans. High School in 1942 and began working as a telegrapher for the St. Louis San Francisco (Frisco) Railway.
He married Imogene Troutman on November 25, 1944 in Yuma, Ariz. Mr. Wood was serving with the U.S. Navy, stationed in Banning, Calif. Miss Troutman traveled by train from Oklahoma, arriving at 2 a.m. in Yuma, where they were married shortly thereafter by a Presbyterian minister officiating at hundreds of wartime weddings. They celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary in 2019. Mrs. Wood died February 4, 2020.
Mr. Wood was later transferred to San Diego and San Jose, Calif.; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; and Seattle, Wash. Near the end of WWII, he was aboard a Navy ship bound for action in the Pacific. However, an outbreak of mumps caused the ship to return to Seattle. The war ended before Mr. Wood was called to further combat duty.
Upon his release from the Navy, Mr. Wood returned to the Frisco Railway, working in Seneca, Mo. and Foyil and Fairland, Okla. In 1950, the family moved to Madill. In 1956, the Woods purchased one of the first six homes in the new Sunset Drive subdivision, owning it until 2018. He retired from the railroad in 1983.
Eugene Wood was a longtime active member of the First United Methodist Church in Madill. He served several terms on the church’s governing board, taught adult Sunday School classes for many years and happily assisted with many church activities such as the annual Zelma Bazaar dinner.
For many years, Mr. Wood wrote witty, wry letters published in The Madill Record. He enjoyed quite a following for his pithy observations on state and national politics, union activities, local policies and family life. One letter was aptly headlined “Eugene has a lot on his Mind.” Mr. Wood was a long-time member of the Order of Railroad Telegraphers, Morse Telegraph Club, and The Society for American Baseball Research.
Mr. Wood is survived by three sons; Russell of Garland, Texas; David of New York, N.Y.; and Dan of Sharon Springs, N.Y.; sister, Florence Phillippi of Tacoma, Wash.; four nephews and two nieces.
A Memorial Service will be Wednesday, May 12, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Madill, Okla. Service will be under the direction of Watts Funeral Home in Madill, Okla. Condolences may be sent to wattsfuneralhome.com.