Helen Frances Wood was born at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, September 6, 1922 in Pleasant Grove, Texas, also known as "Shake Rag", a farming community twelve miles southwest of Henderson in western Rusk County. Her parents were Dallas Franklin Wood and Bessie Gladys Smith.
She had three siblings that she loved dearly: Ethel Retha Wood Barber, Ruby Florence "Tootsie" Wood Boswell DeBruhl and Dallas Eugene "Bill Wood.
Her paternal grandparents were John Franklin Wood and Dora Belle Avant and her maternal grandparents were James Monroe Smith and Mary Jane Powell.
In 1942, on a blind date, she met a young and handsome U.S. Army Air Corps Sergeant pilot by the name of Ollie Ivan Deel. They were married on Saturday, October 31, 1942 in Big Spring, Texas at the First Methodist Church by the Reverend H. Clyde Smith.
They were blessed with two sons, David Ivan Deel born on November 9, 1946 in Jacksonville, Texas and Dennis Alan Deel born on January 28, 1949 in Big Spring, Texas.
She was also blessed with four grandchildren, her princess, Jennifer Denise Hathaway Woodruff, Jeffery Shawn Deel, Dennis "Alan" Deel, Jr. and Christopher Ryan Deel.
My mother was a career military wife. She had to endure many hardships in raising two boys and being away from her husband and family for months on end. My mom deserved some of the medals that my father received during his long military career.
She had an extremely kind and generous heart and was always giving to charities to help those who were in need.
She managed the Brookhollow Garden Apartments in Abilene, Texas for six years.
She loved roses!
She loved angels!
Helen died at 12:37 p.m. Thursday, February 27, 1997 at the Hearthstone Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Round Rock, Texas surrounded by the angels that she loved so much. She was 74 years old. She died from complications of injuries sustained from a motor vehicle accident in October of 1996. On the night prior to her death she lapsed into a coma.
On the day she died the Hospice Nurse had given my mother an examination and told my dad and me that at the most she only had two to three days left to live. My dad was having an extremely hard time dealing with all of this and I knew that it was taking a great toll on him. When the nurse left, I immediately said a silent prayer to God. I prayed that if God were not going to heal my mother that he would go ahead and take her to heaven. Within minutes of my prayer God released my mother's soul from her earthly body and she went to be with Jesus!
How appropriate that on the night that she went into the coma, the very last television show she would ever watch was "Touched by an Angel".
God could not have blessed her family with a more loving daughter, sister, wife, mother and grandmother.
PRECIOUS MEMORIES, by J.B.F. Wright
Precious memories, how they linger
How they ever flood my soul
In the stillness of the midnight
Precious sacred scenes unfold.
Precious father, loving mother
Fly across the lonely years
And old home's scenes of my childhood
In fond memory appear.
She had three siblings that she loved dearly: Ethel Retha Wood Barber, Ruby Florence "Tootsie" Wood Boswell DeBruhl and Dallas Eugene "Bill Wood.
Her paternal grandparents were John Franklin Wood and Dora Belle Avant and her maternal grandparents were James Monroe Smith and Mary Jane Powell.
In 1942, on a blind date, she met a young and handsome U.S. Army Air Corps Sergeant pilot by the name of Ollie Ivan Deel. They were married on Saturday, October 31, 1942 in Big Spring, Texas at the First Methodist Church by the Reverend H. Clyde Smith.
They were blessed with two sons, David Ivan Deel born on November 9, 1946 in Jacksonville, Texas and Dennis Alan Deel born on January 28, 1949 in Big Spring, Texas.
She was also blessed with four grandchildren, her princess, Jennifer Denise Hathaway Woodruff, Jeffery Shawn Deel, Dennis "Alan" Deel, Jr. and Christopher Ryan Deel.
My mother was a career military wife. She had to endure many hardships in raising two boys and being away from her husband and family for months on end. My mom deserved some of the medals that my father received during his long military career.
She had an extremely kind and generous heart and was always giving to charities to help those who were in need.
She managed the Brookhollow Garden Apartments in Abilene, Texas for six years.
She loved roses!
She loved angels!
Helen died at 12:37 p.m. Thursday, February 27, 1997 at the Hearthstone Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Round Rock, Texas surrounded by the angels that she loved so much. She was 74 years old. She died from complications of injuries sustained from a motor vehicle accident in October of 1996. On the night prior to her death she lapsed into a coma.
On the day she died the Hospice Nurse had given my mother an examination and told my dad and me that at the most she only had two to three days left to live. My dad was having an extremely hard time dealing with all of this and I knew that it was taking a great toll on him. When the nurse left, I immediately said a silent prayer to God. I prayed that if God were not going to heal my mother that he would go ahead and take her to heaven. Within minutes of my prayer God released my mother's soul from her earthly body and she went to be with Jesus!
How appropriate that on the night that she went into the coma, the very last television show she would ever watch was "Touched by an Angel".
God could not have blessed her family with a more loving daughter, sister, wife, mother and grandmother.
PRECIOUS MEMORIES, by J.B.F. Wright
Precious memories, how they linger
How they ever flood my soul
In the stillness of the midnight
Precious sacred scenes unfold.
Precious father, loving mother
Fly across the lonely years
And old home's scenes of my childhood
In fond memory appear.
Helen Frances Wood was born at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, September 6, 1922 in Pleasant Grove, Texas, also known as "Shake Rag", a farming community twelve miles southwest of Henderson in western Rusk County. Her parents were Dallas Franklin Wood and Bessie Gladys Smith.
She had three siblings that she loved dearly: Ethel Retha Wood Barber, Ruby Florence "Tootsie" Wood Boswell DeBruhl and Dallas Eugene "Bill Wood.
Her paternal grandparents were John Franklin Wood and Dora Belle Avant and her maternal grandparents were James Monroe Smith and Mary Jane Powell.
In 1942, on a blind date, she met a young and handsome U.S. Army Air Corps Sergeant pilot by the name of Ollie Ivan Deel. They were married on Saturday, October 31, 1942 in Big Spring, Texas at the First Methodist Church by the Reverend H. Clyde Smith.
They were blessed with two sons, David Ivan Deel born on November 9, 1946 in Jacksonville, Texas and Dennis Alan Deel born on January 28, 1949 in Big Spring, Texas.
She was also blessed with four grandchildren, her princess, Jennifer Denise Hathaway Woodruff, Jeffery Shawn Deel, Dennis "Alan" Deel, Jr. and Christopher Ryan Deel.
My mother was a career military wife. She had to endure many hardships in raising two boys and being away from her husband and family for months on end. My mom deserved some of the medals that my father received during his long military career.
She had an extremely kind and generous heart and was always giving to charities to help those who were in need.
She managed the Brookhollow Garden Apartments in Abilene, Texas for six years.
She loved roses!
She loved angels!
Helen died at 12:37 p.m. Thursday, February 27, 1997 at the Hearthstone Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Round Rock, Texas surrounded by the angels that she loved so much. She was 74 years old. She died from complications of injuries sustained from a motor vehicle accident in October of 1996. On the night prior to her death she lapsed into a coma.
On the day she died the Hospice Nurse had given my mother an examination and told my dad and me that at the most she only had two to three days left to live. My dad was having an extremely hard time dealing with all of this and I knew that it was taking a great toll on him. When the nurse left, I immediately said a silent prayer to God. I prayed that if God were not going to heal my mother that he would go ahead and take her to heaven. Within minutes of my prayer God released my mother's soul from her earthly body and she went to be with Jesus!
How appropriate that on the night that she went into the coma, the very last television show she would ever watch was "Touched by an Angel".
God could not have blessed her family with a more loving daughter, sister, wife, mother and grandmother.
PRECIOUS MEMORIES, by J.B.F. Wright
Precious memories, how they linger
How they ever flood my soul
In the stillness of the midnight
Precious sacred scenes unfold.
Precious father, loving mother
Fly across the lonely years
And old home's scenes of my childhood
In fond memory appear.
She had three siblings that she loved dearly: Ethel Retha Wood Barber, Ruby Florence "Tootsie" Wood Boswell DeBruhl and Dallas Eugene "Bill Wood.
Her paternal grandparents were John Franklin Wood and Dora Belle Avant and her maternal grandparents were James Monroe Smith and Mary Jane Powell.
In 1942, on a blind date, she met a young and handsome U.S. Army Air Corps Sergeant pilot by the name of Ollie Ivan Deel. They were married on Saturday, October 31, 1942 in Big Spring, Texas at the First Methodist Church by the Reverend H. Clyde Smith.
They were blessed with two sons, David Ivan Deel born on November 9, 1946 in Jacksonville, Texas and Dennis Alan Deel born on January 28, 1949 in Big Spring, Texas.
She was also blessed with four grandchildren, her princess, Jennifer Denise Hathaway Woodruff, Jeffery Shawn Deel, Dennis "Alan" Deel, Jr. and Christopher Ryan Deel.
My mother was a career military wife. She had to endure many hardships in raising two boys and being away from her husband and family for months on end. My mom deserved some of the medals that my father received during his long military career.
She had an extremely kind and generous heart and was always giving to charities to help those who were in need.
She managed the Brookhollow Garden Apartments in Abilene, Texas for six years.
She loved roses!
She loved angels!
Helen died at 12:37 p.m. Thursday, February 27, 1997 at the Hearthstone Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Round Rock, Texas surrounded by the angels that she loved so much. She was 74 years old. She died from complications of injuries sustained from a motor vehicle accident in October of 1996. On the night prior to her death she lapsed into a coma.
On the day she died the Hospice Nurse had given my mother an examination and told my dad and me that at the most she only had two to three days left to live. My dad was having an extremely hard time dealing with all of this and I knew that it was taking a great toll on him. When the nurse left, I immediately said a silent prayer to God. I prayed that if God were not going to heal my mother that he would go ahead and take her to heaven. Within minutes of my prayer God released my mother's soul from her earthly body and she went to be with Jesus!
How appropriate that on the night that she went into the coma, the very last television show she would ever watch was "Touched by an Angel".
God could not have blessed her family with a more loving daughter, sister, wife, mother and grandmother.
PRECIOUS MEMORIES, by J.B.F. Wright
Precious memories, how they linger
How they ever flood my soul
In the stillness of the midnight
Precious sacred scenes unfold.
Precious father, loving mother
Fly across the lonely years
And old home's scenes of my childhood
In fond memory appear.
Inscription
EXODUS 23 20
"BEHOLD I SEND AN ANGEL BEFORE YOU
TO KEEP AND GUARD YOU ON THE WAY AND TO
BRING YOU TO THE PLACE I HAVE PREPARED"
