Stanley L. Woods, 70, of Moline, passed away Feb. 7, 2011, at Trinity Rock Island.
Stanley L. Woods, 70, of Moline, passed away Feb. 7, 2011, at Trinity Rock Island.
Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 11, at Esterdahl Mortuary & Crematory, 6601 38th Ave., Moline. Visitation will be from 3-8 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home. Private burial will be at Moline Memorial Park Cemetery. It was Stan's wishes that in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to the Stan Woods Scholarship Fund.
Stan was born on May 21, 1940, in Biggsville, Ill., the son of Clarence J. and Maude E. Anderson Woods. He married Janet Harrelson on June 8, 1968, in Little York, Ill.
Stan was a teacher/guidance counselor and Dean of Students for the Moline School District for 38 years, retiring in 2000. He was also a Realtor for several years. He was involved with the Natural Helpers and National Honor Society at the high school and also the Moline Youth Commission. He was active in 4-H as a child and an adult. He was a member of the Illinois Retired Teachers Association. He enjoyed farming, gardening, all Illini sports and the company of family and friends.
Survivors include his wife, Janet; sons, Mitchell Woods, Moline, Scott (Rachel) Woods, Urbana, Ill.; grandchildren, Logan Woods, Moline, Abigail Woods, Urbana, Ill.; sister, Joan Hovey, Bettendorf.
He was preceded in death by his parents; and his sister, Dorothy Ward-Suss.
Online condolences may be expressed to Stan's family by visiting his obituary at www.esterdahl.com.
By John Marx, jmarx@qconline.com
It always was sunny and 72 degrees in Stan Woods' world. The longtime educator and Moline High School institution refused to deal with gloom.
Mr. Woods left us Monday (Feb 7, 2011) at age 70, following a brief illness.
"Always friendly, always upbeat; Stan went out of his way to be nice," said Jackie Wykle of Rock Island, who meets with friends each day at Panera in Moline.
Mr. Woods, who also made daily visits to Panera, always was entertaining, she said. "He went out of his way to be nice, because nice is all he knew."
Mr. Woods spent 37 years at Moline High School in a variety of educational posts, but endeared himself to countless students as a counselor. He was the person who would take over when a student would fall into a "gray" area.
"He made a point of reaching the struggling student and made sure they came to him before they fell out of the loop," Moline principal Bill Burrus said of Mr. Woods.
"He would rescue those kids from the "gray" area, give them a positive boost and push them toward becoming better students and people," Mr. Burrus said.
"He didn't just do that by talking to them, he took an active role in them and showed an adult cared about them. My sister Jo Ann, a 1969 Moline graduate, can still picture Mr. Woods making sure everyone did well in typing class. He wanted you to succeed."
Mr. Woods' teaching career began in 1963. He taught business education through 1967, then was in the counseling department for three years, before working as an administrative assistant for 13 years.
Then Mr. Woods went back to his real love, counseling, for 17 years before retiring in 2000.
He guided the school's annual Share Joys program, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the less fortunate. There is an annual scholarship named in his honor.
"Bigger than life, so robust," said Julie Spinelo, Mr. Woods' secretary for many years in the school's counseling center. "He could tell stories with the best of them.
"I can laugh about this now, but Mr. Woods was always busy, always in a time crunch. He loved to give me a letter to type with five minutes left in my day and then stand over me while I typed it. You couldn't be mad, because it was Stan. And if you ever needed a letter of recommendation, Stan was the one you wanted to have write it for you."
Mr. Burrus said alumni are important to any school's long-term success, and having Mr. Woods on staff helped keep a healthy relationship between the Moline Maroons of the past and present.
"I was a dean and worked next to Stan, and the line of students who came back to visit always went through his office," Mr. Burrus said. "More than anyone through the years, Stan's relationship with students made them want to come back, want to be involved with Moline High School.
"I bet he got more birth-notice calls and invitations to weddings than anyone in the history of education."
Mr. Burrus said that after he retired, Mr. Woods would stop by Moline High School to keep tabs on staffers and share where he was in life.
"No matter how frustrating a day could be, you knew if those big bear paws of his -- and he had massive hands -- tapped you on the shoulder, things were going to get brighter," Mr. Burrus said.
"What a great man. We all miss him."
Posted at QCOnline.com: Feb. 08, 2011, 12:18 pm
Obituary from QC Online