R284
Husband: Dennis (Mike) Floyd Wood
Father: Alva Backus Wood [R282]
Mother: Madora (Robinson) Wood [R282]
Born: 10/15/1898, Botetourt Co., Va.
Died: 9/11/1981, Beckley, Raleigh Co., W.Va. Buried in Blue Ridge
Memorial Gardens, Beckley, W.Va.
Wife: Russie Cooper (Crews) Wood
Father: William Tell Crews, b. 4/15/1857, Mercer Co., W.Va. d.
4/21/1949, Beckley, W.Va., buried Moye-Crews Cemetery, Flat
Top, Raleigh Co., W.Va.
Mother: Annie Lilly Crews, b. 4/18/1865, d. 1/8/1941, Daniels, Raleigh
Co., W.V., buried Moye-Crews Cemetery, Flat Top, Raleigh Co.,
W.Va.
Born: 5/8/1901, Camp Creek, Mercer Co., W.Va.
Died: 12/29/1979, Beckley, Raleigh Co., W.Va. Buried in Blue Ridge
Memorial Gardens,
Beckley, W.Va.
Married: 2/8/1923 in Princeton, Mercer Co., W.Va.
Children:
Dennis Floyd Wood, Jr. [R286] (1926-)
Ruth Ann Wood, b. 9/2/1927 at Stotesbury, Raleigh Co., W.Va. m.
3/12/1964 in Beckley, W.Va. to Kenneth Green Harrah, b. 5/9/1922, d. 1/2/2002, buried in Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens, Beckley, Raleigh Co., W.Va. No children of this marriage.
Edsel Crews Wood [R287] (1930-1984)
(2010) Dennis's birth name was Floyd Dennis Wood. He apparently liked Dennis Floyd Wood better, and somewhere along the way, before his marriage in 1923 and the arrival of his first child in 1926, he made Dennis his first name.
Dennis was raised on the family farm owned by his parents, Alva Backus Wood and Madora Robinson Wood. During World War I he received orders to report for service. Before the ordered date to appear he received a letter instructing him not to report due to the flu epidemic in training camp. Before he received further orders the war ended, and he then received orders not to report at all.
Dennis did not want a farm life, and he and a friend went to Dayton, Ohio and obtained jobs in the Goodyear Tire factory. They worked there through the winter months of 1918-1919, but both returned to Glen Wilton in the spring to help their fathers get out the crops for 1919. That fall, Dennis went to Stotesbury in Raleigh County, W. Va. to work for an uncle who was store manager of the coal company commissary store there. Many of the coal companies, after finding an ample coal supply in a location, would build communities for their employees, usually including a church, an elementary school, a doctor's clinic, bookkeeping and payroll offices, and post office, and would build housing for the employees and their families to live in. They also would build a general merchandise store where the employees could buy almost anything they needed in ordinary living. In those days very few people owned an automobile. Their major means of transportation was by train, which all coal locations had access to so they could ship the mined coal to its buyers, usually power companies and factories.
Dennis was hired by his uncle to operate the store delivery wagon which was pulled by horses, making deliveries of larger purchases. It is unclear how long he worked at this job. In addition to his uncle and aunt he quickly made friends with others. One was the coal company "conservator of the peace". This person's wife had a school-teacher sister living with them, and she was introduced to Dennis. After some time a courtship evolved, resulting in marriage to Russie Cooper Crews on February 8, 1923. By this time Dennis had taken a job in the coal mines, which he liked and which no doubt paid better wages. Over time he became a skilled operator of a coal cutting machine. His reputation became known and throughout his working life, except during the Great Depression, he could always find employment.
Dennis was employed in coal mines for approximately thirty-two years, retiring about 1960. He liked working in the coal mines, as many miners do.
During the Great Depression, Dennis and wife Russie and their three small children moved to a small farm in Mercer County, W. Va. His experience growing up on a farm served him well during this period. He was able in 1933 to obtain employment in the coal mines again, and moved his family in 1935 to Daniels, Raleigh Co., W. Va. which was within commuting distance to several coal mine locations. In 1936, Dennis and Russie had a two-story home built at Daniels, in which they lived in until 1967.
At Daniels he was quick to aid persons in difficult situations and was much respected in the community. His oldest son, Dennis, Jr., attends an annual reunion sponsored by a neighborhood family that reared eight children. Every year someone from that family tells him of events and help that Dennis's father did for them and of how much they remember and appreciate him.
Dennis lost his wife, Russie on December 29,1979 in a Beckley hospital due to a stroke she suffered a few weeks earlier. She was 78 years of age. Dennis died on September 11, 1981 in a Beckley hospital of ventricular fibrillation at the age of 82. He and his wife are buried in the Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens cemetery near Beckley.
Dennis talked often of his growing-up years in Glen Wilton. He had several uncles, aunts and cousins in the "Woodtown" area. He was proud of his parents and his brothers and sisters, and his upbringing experience there.
Source [S166]
