I knew Woody for many years writing to him in the early 1970's about Brookfield questions. He always responded with neatly typed letters. We corresponded for many years afterward, too, after becoming acquainted through the Lone Star Insulator Club. However, I got to know him even better on two driving trips to the Mid-Ohio show better known as "Springfield". I drove to Houston to pick him up and so it was a bit longer drive than usual for me. He had a lot of stories about his childhood and meeting various insulator manufacturers. I wish I had a tape recorder to record all he said.

He had a very difficult life as a child during the Great Depression. He enjoyed learning rather than playing with other children. His thirst for knowledge seemed to focus on his interest in insulators – those colorful glass objects he saw along railroads and along city streets. The towns he chose to visit, live and work in revolved around his interest in insulators.

When Woody was 12, he wired the old trailer he and his mother were living in so they could have a few lights. At age 13, he ran electrical wire from the power line to their small house using Hemingray No. 9 insulators.

Woody was kind and gentle soul willing to help anyone. He will be long remember and missed.

Elton