Leonard Don Wooddell, age 66, of Newport, North Carolina, departed this life Wednesday, March 1, 2017, at Carteret Health Care in Morehead City, North Carolina, from complications of meningitis.
Born October 27, 1950, at the Navel Hospital in Pensacola, Florida, he was a son of the late Brent T. and Gladys Wooddell.
Leonard graduated from Franklin County High School in Columbus, Ohio. He enjoyed life, especially spending time on the water. He loved his family and friends.
He was an employee of Bouila Construction in Newport, North Carolina, for 22 years. He had worked as a security guard at Snowshoe Mountain Resort, where he met the love of his life, Paris Flanagan Sturm. The couple married July 18, 1981, and celebrated 31 years of marriage.
After spending many years working through the cold West Virginia winters, the couple sought a new life on the Crystal Coast in North Carolina. They spent their lives working on the water and, in later years, just enjoying the warm sunshine.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Paris; and a sister, Barbara Eck.
H
e is survived by his mother-in-law, Faitha Flanagan, of Thomas; two children whom he loved as his own, Jerry Howard Sturm and Elizabeth Lancaster, and husband, Scott, all of Kerens; a brother, Bill Wooddell, and wife, Valecia, of Corapeak, North Carolina; brother-in-law, Gordon Lee Flanagan, and wife, Elsie, of Ohio; sisters, Carolyn Eilertson, and husband, Sid, of New Bern, North Carolina, Sandra Willhite, and husband, Brian, of Hillsboro, and Kay Hogan, and husband, Michael, of Millington, Maryland; grandchildren, Hannah Marie Evans, and husband, Logan, and Jacob Lancaster, all of Kerens; and many nieces and nephews.
A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, June 17, 2 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Parsons with Rev. William R. Brown officiating. Private interment will be held at a later date in the Waxler Cemetery in Danville, Maryland.
Online condolences may be made at www.cottenfuneralhome.com