SHERIDAN - Memorial services for Sheridan resident Harold Wayne "Slim" "Woody" Wood, 80, will be conducted at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 16, at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Sheridan by Canon Ray Clark and Fr. David Duprey.

Cremation has taken place under the direction of Kane Funeral Home of Sheridan. Masonic graveside services and military honor guard will follow in the Masonic Section of Sheridan Municipal Cemetery.

After burial services, a reception will be held for friends and family in Kalif Shrine.

He died Nov. 12, 2004, at Sheridan Manor, after a courageous battle with cancer.

Born Feb. 24, 1924, in Wilmore, Kan., he was the fourth of eight children of John P. and Erma M. (Fox) Wood; and moved with the family to Wyoming during the Great Depression, to join his grandparents on their homestead near Moorcroft.

After moving to Sheridan, he left Sheridan High School in 1941 to serve in the U.S. Navy as an aviation machinist's mate on board the U.S.S. Lexington; and survived the Battle of the Coral Sea when his ship was sunk by the Japanese. In 1947, he was honorably discharged after serving on various naval posts after the war's end.

He married Arline Ellsworth on July 14, 1945, in Billings, Mont.

The family settled in Sheridan, where he was a master machinist and worked at Sheridan Iron Works for nearly 30 years. He then opened his own machine shop, Western Steel, and retired in 1995.

Active in the Masonic bodies, he became master of Big Horn Mountain Lodge No. 43 in 1965; and was a member of Kalif Shrine, Order of Eastern Star, Scottish and York Rites, and Royal Order of the Jesters. He also was a Legionnaire and member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

An avid sportsman, he enjoyed spending time at the family cabin in the Big Horn Mountains and hadn't missed an elk-hunting season since 1947. He loved to fish in the Big Horns and on the Winnipeg River in Canada. The couple enjoyed traveling and every one of their adventures.

His grandchildren and dogs were priorities and he loved gardening, working with his hands, and relating stories of his war experiences. One of his proudest moments was finally graduating from SHS in 2002 with two of his grandchildren.

Survivors include his wife of 59 years, daughter, Darlene Gilkey, and two sons, Ron and Bob Wood, all of Sheridan; brother, Jack, of El Cajon, Calif.; four sisters, Eleanor Rinker of Rialto, Calif., and Dorothy Grooms, Gertrude Cordray and Margaret Torrens, all of Sheridan; 12 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and a great-great-grandchild.

He was preceded in death by his parents and two sisters, Arlene Grooms and Virginia Bright.

Memorials may be made to Kalif Shrine Children's Travel Fund, in care of Karen Green, First Interstate Bank, P.O. Box 2007, Sheridan, WY 82801.