John Cameron Woodward Jr.

1922 - 2009

John Cameron Woodward, Jr., was a gentle man in the truest sense. He was a soft-spoken man with a warm heart who treated everyone with civility and kindness. As a loyal friend second to none, he kept cherished friends from his childhood throughout his life.

He was born to parents John Cameron Woodward and Kathryn Hogan Woodward in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Lincoln's birthday, February 12, 1922. It was to be that this honest man of integrity shared Lincoln's birthday. At the age of two his family moved to Beverly Hills, California where John spent his childhood and graduated from Beverly Hills High School. It was there that the student body voted him "Best Looking." When talking about growing up in Beverly Hills he was sure to clarify that it was "the wrong side of the tracks, Beverly Hills." Sharp of wit and quick to humor, John always enjoyed a good laugh.

Uncle Sam interrupted his studies at the University of Southern California with a stint in the US Army, where he served in Guam and Okinawa. It was while in training that he met his future wife, Army nurse Virginia "Nada" Watts. True to storybook form they married on VE Day, May 8, 1945. After his tour of duty in the Army he returned to USC where he majored in Business and received his degree. As a proud USC alum, he was forevermore an avid Trojan football fan and team and school supporter. While John was studying at USC, the Chrysler Corporation recruited him into the auto industry, which would become a lifetime career.

After his graduation, the newly married John and Nada Woodward moved to Palo Alto, California where they had their first child, Virginia "Ginny" Woodward. This new career endeavor then meant moving to San Mateo in Northern California where two new family additions were born, Nancy Woodward and John Woodward III.

In 1963, moving up the auto industry ladder required that the family move to the City of Orange in Southern California. John Woodward would spend the next decade attaining a wealth of automobile industry experience inclusive of traveling the country establishing dealership franchises. While others in their 50s may have been entertaining retirement, John Woodward was entertaining the idea of a personal business venture: an automobile dealership franchise of his own. In 1976 the family moved to Thousand Oaks, California where he opened Westoaks Chrysler Dodge. Holding steadfast to his personal integrity, the dealership's motto was "Where People Care."

Baseball's Leo Durocher was famous for saying "nice guys finish last." Leo never met John Woodward. With business success came the opportunity to give back to his community. This gentle man of civic virtue spent the next three decades tirelessly supporting and serving a multitude of children's sports teams, civic groups, the Chamber of Commerce, and many charitable organizations. If the need was there, so was John Woodward. He received many accolades and awards for his service including being honored by the Thousand Oaks/Westlake Chamber of Commerce as "Man of the Year." John's was a family business and with time that family expanded.

John Woodward, Jr., is survived by daughters Ginny Hathaway and Nancy O'Connell, son John Woodward III, daughter-in-law Kathleen Woodward, sons-in-law Larry Hathaway and Bill O'Connell, grandchildren Jack "John" Woodward IV (15), Kathryn Rose Woodward (13), and twins Kathryn and Cameron O'Connell (13).

Though blessed with business success, it was family that meant everything to John Woodward. When his wife Nada passed away in 2004, at her service he said "In Spanish her name Nada means nothing, but to me she was everything." Your family and friends thought everything of you too, John. God Bless you.

A Celebration of Life in honor of John Woodward, Jr., will be held at Las Posas Country Club, 955 Fairway Drive, Camarillo 93010 on Sunday, March 29 at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made on behalf of John Woodward, Jr., to St. Patrick's Episcopal Church Children's Chapel Renovation Fund, 1 Church Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91362.