Dr. Laurence Willis Wood, Jr., aged 91, of Darlington, passed away on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, at 11:00 pm. He was a patient of McLeod Hospice House in Florence.
A memorial service for Dr. Wood will be held in All Saints Anglican Church, on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, at 10:30am.
Dr. Wood was born in Charleston, SC, on March 16, 1933, to the late Laurence Willis Wood, Sr., and Marguerite Johnston Wood. He was a 1955 graduate of The Citadel. In 1959, he obtained his Doctorate in Internal Medicine. Dr. Wood went on to complete his residency at Johns Hopkins’ University, where he would eventually also be Chief of Staff.
Dr. Wood was a member of the United States Army and retired in 1981 as a Colonel, refusing a promotion to General in order to return to his long time bride to the south.
Colonel Wood was involved in both the CIA and the NSA. Due to his knowledge and dedicated service to the US, he was assigned as the personal physician to Former President Dwight D., and Mamie Eisenhower, Former President Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson, as well as to the former Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie. Above all he was an outstanding, dedicated and loyal son, brother, friend, husband, father, and grandfather.
He is survived by his children, Mark and Dana Hartgraves Wood, Loren Hamilton and Jami Heaps, Marguerite Wood and Mike Attaway. His grandchildren are Mark and Jami Bradley, Megan and Daniel Torres, Allie and Tucker Black, Melanie and Elisa Cruz, Andrew and Alyssa Hartgraves, Blake and Lori Hartgraves, Taylor and Michael Moellering, Paige and Andrew Montemayor. He also had five great-grandchildren, Hadley, Hayes, Holland, Benjamin and Emelia Hartgraves.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister, Virginia Anne; his wife, Rhetta; and his son, Larry III.
Memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association at https://act.alz.org/ or the American Medical Association.