Finis Gleason Wood

Finis Gleason Wood, 99, of rural Nevada, died Nov. 12, 2011, at Nevada Regional Medical Center, following a brief illness. He was born at Sloan, Iowa, on Oct. 30, 1912, to Thomas Wood and Mary Isabell (Rinker) Wood. On June 22, 1941, he was married to LaMerna Attebery in Kansas City, Mo., who preceded him in death in March 2006.

Finis lived most of his life in and near Nevada. He worked as an auto mechanic in Nevada and for the MFA Oil Company in Columbia, Mo., before serving in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. After his military service, Finis was an auto mechanic in Nevada and a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service for 18 years retiring in 1976. He was a member and former deacon of the Church of Christ, member of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees, and formerly the Missouri Nut Growers Association, and in the early 1940s, the Nevada Merchants baseball team. His hobbies included woodworking, gardening, fishing, and grafting and growing pecan trees. He loved the outdoors and was a dedicated conservationist.

Survivors include one son, Byron Wood and his wife, LaDonna, of Pleasant Hill, Mo.; one daughter Phyllis Clayton and her husband, Gene, of Springfield, Mo.; four grandchildren, Sherry Mason and her husband, Doug, of Battlefield, Mo., Randy Clayton and his wife, Laura, of Nixa, Mo., Darren Wood, Pleasant Hill, Mo., Brandon Wood, Nashville, Tenn.; and four great-grandchildren, Matthew, Emily and Lauren Clayton and Ashlynn Mason. He was preceded in death by his wife, LaMerna; two brothers, LeRoy and Salem Wood; and one sister, Weltha Wood.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 16, at Ferry Funeral Home, Nevada, with the Revs. Darrell Tucker and John Lee officiating. Interment will follow in Newton Burial Park, Nevada.

Friends may call now and until the hour of service at Ferry Funeral Home in Nevada, and the family will receive friends at the funeral home Wednesday, Nov. 16, between 1 and 2 p.m., prior to the funeral service.

Memorials are suggested to the Mary A. McGennis Agricultural Park and Youth Center, Council on Families in Crisis (Moss House), Community Food Pantry or Habitat for Humanity in care of Ferry Funeral Home, Nevada.

View obituary and send condolences on line at www.ferryfuneralhome.com