Beryl Moore Woodward

December 24, 1905 - June 8, 2014

Obituary for Beryl Woodward, 1905-2014 Beryl Woodward was born to Harley and Edith Moore on December 24th, 1905 in Central City, Nebraska on the day before her father, a Quaker pastor, was prepared to preach on the text, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” Beryl Woodward passed away on June 8, 2014 at the age of 108 and 5 months, 14 days. By the time Beryl was of school age her father had taken a pastorate at the El Modena Friends Church in Southern California. Beryl grew up playing with three sisters all of whom preceded her in death. In her early years her parents addressed the children and one another with the traditional Quaker language, thee-and-thou. Beryl graduated from Denair High School in the Central Valley of California and through the generosity of Grandpa and Grandma Harris she was able to live with them in Whittier and earn her bachelor’s degree at Whittier College. It was at Whittier College that she saw her first football game and later said that at first she couldn’t understand why the players would all line up, go a few yards and then fall down. Again through the generosity of her Grandfather Harris who gave each of the Moore sisters $500, Beryl was able to apply and be accepted into the School of Library Science at the University of California in Berkeley. It was there in Berkeley that she met and later married her husband, Davis Woodward on June 30th, 1928 in a small wedding in her parents’ home. During their honeymoon they traveled to Oregon to spend time with Davis’ family and friends, people whom Beryl had never met. Davis had accepted a teaching position at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, and taught in that same school for 34 years. While their new house was being constructed in 1933, Davis and Beryl experienced the severe 8.5 earthquake on March 10th that caused the death of 117 people in Long Beach and broke all of the new couple’s china and some other wedding gifts as well. However, by June of 1933, they had moved into their new home in Alamitos Heights, a house that was built at a total cost of $2800. During all of their years in Long Beach, Davis and Beryl were both active leaders in the Long Beach Friends Church, a fellowship they deeply appreciated. Prior to the birth of son Ron in 1935 and daughter Elaine in 1937, Beryl worked full-time in the public library system in Long Beach; however, while the children were young she only worked occasionally on a part-time basis. When money was needed for the children’s college expenses she took the courses necessary to qualify as a full-time school librarian and worked in that capacity until retiring in 1960. It was during that year that Davis took a one-year sabbatical from Wilson High School to study at the London School of Economics and spend several months traveling in Europe—an experience that Beryl long remembered with great fondness. In 1963, after serving the obligatory two additional years at Wilson High School, Davis retired from teaching, they sold their home in Long Beach and moved to Newberg, Oregon where Davis had been offered a half-time teaching position at George Fox College. In Newberg Beryl worked initially as a part-time secretary at the college, but later worked both at the Newberg Public Library and the library at the college. Sadly, during the night of November 7, 1969, Davis died suddenly of a massive heart attack at age 66. Many days of deep loneliness followed for Beryl, but through the kindness of friends she was gradually able to find her way, mostly in service to others. In 1974 her son Ron moved with his family to Newberg to take a position as pastor at Newberg Friends Church, so in the years immediately following Beryl was able to watch three of her grandchildren grow up as well as having many opportunities to serve as a volunteer babysitter. At Newberg Friends Church Beryl taught Sunday School in the Primary Department, provided nursery care for a mid-week women’s Bible Study, volunteered in the church office, and served in a number of other volunteer capacities. On April 16th, 1977 Beryl moved into the Friendsview Retirement Community where she thoroughly enjoyed the view from her 5th floor room until the time she needed to move to assisted living, and later to the Health Center. While at Friendsview she spent many hours volunteering at George Fox University and at the age of 94 in the year 2000 she was honored by the University as Volunteer of the Year. One of her delights during those years was serving as a “substitute grandmother” for a number of women on the George Fox University women’s basketball team. As friends and family look back on her life it is apparent to all that she exercised both the spiritual gifts of hospitality and the gift of service, remarkably fulfilling the Pauline admonition “to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” (1 Tim. 6:18) During their growing-up years Ron and Elaine remember many, many times when Beryl hosted a visiting preacher, her own pastor and wife, or any number of other people for Sunday dinner in her home after the morning worship service. Beryl Woodward is survived by her son Ron and his wife Nancy, daughter Elaine and her husband Jim, grandchildren Michele Loecken, Michael Penn, Doug Woodward, Mark Woodward and Natasha Woodward, along with twelve great-grandchildren. Memorial Contributions may be made to the Evangelical Friends Mission or The Residents' Assitance Fund at Friendsview Retirement Community in c/o Attrell's Newberg Funeral Chapel, a Golden Rule Funeral Home.