Michele Jordan Woods
Michele Jordan Woods, wife of Dr. Bryan Woods, and a Salado resident since 2003, died on April 25, 2009 after a long illness. Michele was born in Sept. 1936 in the small village of Dornestetten in the Black Forest of Germany. She lived in Germany until age 19, when she came to the United States on a one-year college scholarship. She decided to complete her education in the U.S., and moved to San Antonio, Texas in 1958, where she first attended St. Mary’s night school (in what later became La Mansion del Rio), and then Our Lady of the Lake College. While in San Antonio she met her future husband, Bryan, who was in Air Force OCS at Lackland AFB. She stayed in San Antonio to finish college while he was reassigned to Clovis, New Mexico and then Washington, D.C. They reconnected after her graduation, and married in Nov. 1961. At that time they were both working in Washington, and he was also attending night school to take pre-med courses. Their first child, Michele, was born in Oct. 1962, and Bryan started medical school in Charlottesville, Virginia in Sept. 1963.
During medical school two more daughters, Monika and Suzanne, were born. In 1967 the family moved to Brookline, Massachusetts for Bryan’s internship and residency training. They relocated to Wellesley, Massachusetts a year later, and lived there until 1993. Michele became a naturalized citizen in 1974, and a year later was the first immigrant ever elected to the town school board, which she eventually chaired. While in Massachusetts she and Bryan had two more children, sons Michael and Jordan.
In 1993 Bryan accepted a position as VA Neurologist in Temple and Professor of Medicine (and later also of Psychiatry) at Texas A&M. During the ensuing years Michele continued with her lifelong interest in antiques and collectibles, as well as remaining a close observer of politics from the local to the international level. In 2003, after Bryan retired from clinical work at the VA, they moved to Salado for more space, a beautiful view, and a home with no stairs.
In 2006 she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She responded well to active treatment for two years, but then found she couldn’t tolerate any more chemotherapy.
A memorial service, attended by her husband and children and many local friends, was held for her at the VA chapel in Temple on May 11, and her ashes were interred at Bellwood Cemetery on May 12.