Lauren Duane "Woody" Woodard

LAUREN DUANE “WOODY” WOODARD Funeral services for Lauren Duane “Woody” Woodard will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, March 30 at the Ertel Memorial Chapel. Interment will follow at Cortez Cemetery with military honors being conducted by Ute Mountain American Legion Post #75. Woody was born November 4, 1913 at Plum Creek Township, Mitchell County, Kans. His parents, who farmed in Kansas were Charles L. and Carrie (Jackson) Woodard. He passed away on Friday, March 23, 2007 at Mesa View Retirement Home at the age of 93. A Veteran of military service with both the United States Army and the United States Navy. Woody first served with the Untied States Army’s Second Division, United States Cavalry, Fort Frances E. Warren Cheyenne, Wyo. during the 1930s. Upon leaving the Army, Lauren D. Woodard married Maxine Reed of Greeley, Colo. in 1936. Two children, Duane and Barbara were born of that marriage. During the second World War, Woody served with the United States navy and participated in Naval and Marine engagements in the Marianna Islands, (Saipan), Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Lauren Woodard served with distinction on the USS Sibley which was launched on July 19, 1944 in Richmond, Calif. In the years following, he was an active member of both the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. Woody was married a second time in 1950 to Nettie “Talcott” Woodard. Nettie brought two sons to the marriage, Stan and Jimmy. Those surviving Woody are his son, Duane Woodard of Arvada, Colo. and his children, Elizabeth Wilson and Mary Woodard, and Elizabeth’s son, Jackson Wilson. Three grandchildren from his marriage with Nettie also survive, Mike, Pat and Tracey Talcott. He also leaves numerous nephews and nieces, Darlene Hoffman of Wheatland, Wyo., Jewel Lee Withrow of Fort Collins, Colo., Gail Bulkley of Gillette, Wyo., Sandra Lee West of Cortez and her son, Brian Curtis Thomas West, Charles Duane Woodard of Houston, Tex., James Woodard of Silver City, N.M., Richard Woodard of Torrington, Wyo., Geneive Marick of Franklin, Neb., and Charles Wright of North Platte, Neb. Woody had many friends including Olein Smith and wife, Jeri, Don T. Swank, and Ben Smith all of Cortez. Everyone that knew him always called him Woody. He was our oldest living Veteran of the American Legion Post #75. He will be greatly missed. Woody was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Maxine; his second wife, Nettie; his daughter, Barbara; two stepsons, Stan and Jimmy Talcott; his niece, Judith Ann West; and eight brothers and sisters. Cards and letters can be sent to Sandra L. West, PO Box 1555, Cortez, Colo.