Marylou Paetzhold Wood

Dec. 22, 1921 - May 27, 2011

Marylou Paetzhold Wood was born on Dec. 22, 1921, in Portland to Albert and Effie Jane (Kensinger) Paetzhold.

She attended Woodstock Grade School and Franklin High School in Portland, where she graduated in 1938.

Marylou lived life on her own terms, and made the best of every situation. At an early age, she showed qualities of leadership when she was recognized at the 4-H National Congress for her project that displayed her leadership, organizational skills and excellence in homemaking. This recognition resulted in a new refrigerator for her family, and a scholarship which she used to attend the Oregon State University College of Home Economics; she graduated in 1948.

Marylou met her future husband, Donald D. Wood, at Oregon State. He asked her out for a soda on Monroe Avenue for their first date. They were married in Las Vegas, Nev., just days before Don was sent to the Pacific during World War II.

City-raised, Marylou adapted to being a forester's wife. She and Don lived in many remote sites in Washington and Oregon before they put down roots in Galice (Rand). There they raised their two daughters, Nancy and Bonnie. Marylou was also active in community life. She organized potlucks, she was a 4-H leader, and wrote and photographed the community news for the Grants Pass Daily Courier.

When the girls were in high school, Marylou and Don moved into Grants Pass. Marylou stayed active in community events while working full time at Griffith's Department Store, first in the fabric department and later as the women's sportswear buyer for the store.

She participated in P.E.O., and was very active in the Order of the Eastern Star, Daughters of the Nile, the Order of the Amaranth, and other Masonic activities, and St. Luke's Episcopal Church.

Marylou was well known in the Grants Pass community for her beautiful flower gardens, her warm engaging smile and infectious laugh. She saw the best in everyone, and each person knew that they were her favorite. She will be missed by all who knew her.

Marylou is survived by her daughters, Nancy Hart and her husband, Hiram, of Corvallis, and Bonnie Wood of Boise, Idaho; grandchildren Brennan McCommon of Eugene and Whitney McCommon of Ashland; and many nieces and nephews. Marylou was preceded in death by her husband, Donald D. Wood; her brothers, William F. Paetzhold and Robert (Bob) Nelson; and her parents.

Thank you to Benton Hospice Service, Regency Park Place and the many caregivers (you know who you are!) who gave their love and support to Marylou and her family. We are so blessed to have been loved by Marylou. She continued to teach us by example grace, strength, dignity and humor, even as she died. May she rest in peace.

There will be a celebration of Marylou's remarkable life at 2 p.m. Friday, June 3, at Regency Park Place Assisted Living Community, her home for the past two and a half years. Memorial contributions can be made to the OSC P.E.O. Charitable Trust for the Marguerite Scholarship Fund, the Josephine County 4-H Scholarship Fund, Benton Hospice Service, or Grand Chapter, O.E.S., with the memo for cancer research, in care of McHenry Funeral Home, Corvallis.