Dr. Thomas George Wood

Dr. Thomas George Wood died unexpectedly on Sunday evening, November 19, 2023, at Centra Lynchburg General Hospital at the age of 81. He was born on December 31, 1941, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and was the only child of the late Dale Arthur Wood and Frances Beulah Pike Wood. He grew up in the small town of Cooper, Michigan and graduated with the class of 1960 from Plainwell High School. He later graduated from Ferris State College. He was drafted into the Army in 1967 and served as a pharmacist at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, California. He completed a Ph.D. in Chemistry at Western Michigan University in 1976, and worked in pharmaceutical research and development for several companies in New Jersey. In 1996 he accepted a position at C.B. Fleet and moved to Lynchburg. He was an avid numismatist and was proud of his 50 year membership in the American Numismatic Association. He was the founding member of the Lynchburg Coin Club, and owned Scarlett’s Main Street Antiques and Apoth Coins. As a child, Tom sang in the Boys’ Choir at St. Lukes Episcopal Church in Kalamazoo, and he was an almost lifelong Episcopalian. While in New Jersey, he was active in the Cursillo and Kairos movements, and he volunteered with the Billy Graham Crusade when it came to East Rutherford, New Jersey in 1991.  He attended St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Lynchburg for many years, before switching to the Church of the Good Shepherd during the pandemic, where he served on the intercessory prayer team, and volunteered for the hospitality team as a greeter, and he served as a greeter on the morning of his death. He was also a longtime member of the prayer group at St. Thomas More Catholic Church, and it was the members of the prayer group who surrounded him in the hospital during the final moments of his life, and who led mourners in the rosary at his wake. Tom was a truly unique individual, and he will be remembered by his son and daughter-in-law, Dale and Suzanne Wood, and his granddaughter, Frances Wood, all of Michigan, in addition to numerous cousins, dear friends, business associates, and the members of his beloved prayer group. Tom was buried at Spring Hill Cemetery. A memorial mass in celebration of his life will take place at 3:30 p.m. at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 1100 Court Street, Lynchburg, on Sunday, December 31, 2023, which would have been his 82^nd birthday. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to the Church of the Good Shepherd. 

Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory, Lynchburg is assisting the family.