The obituary, shown below, was originally published in the November 17, 2014
issue of
The Daily Local News (West Chester, PA).
John Jackson Woodward Jr., formerly of Kennett Square
John Jackson Woodward, Jr., age 75, of Lincoln, Calif. died Nov. 1, 2014 of heart failure in Sacramento. He was the son of John Jackson Woodward and Margaret Peters Woodward of Rosedale, Kennett Township.
Growing up on the Woodward dairy farm in then-rural southern Chester County, John was a 1957 graduate of Kennett High School. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from the University of Delaware in 1961, where he played soccer and was a member of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. He married fellow UDEL graduate, Evelyn Lenore Feicht of Punxsutawney, Pa. and settled near Kennett Square with his young family to work the farm part-time and to pursue an executive management career in the chemical industry in Wilmington, Del. In the early 1960’s, John also served with distinction in the Delaware Air National Guard as a jet mechanic and medic. Balancing the competing needs of family, farm, and profession, John rose to be a top sales executive in what is now Syngenta Corp., a leading global chemical enterprise. He ultimately retired to a small farm in Lincoln, Calif., where he was beloved by locals for his ability to grow some of the finest boutique corn crops in Northern Calif.
He is survived by three sons, John J. Woodward, III of Meadow Vista, Calif., Michael P. Woodward of Sammamish, Wash. and David R. Woodward of Singapore. Also surviving are five grandchildren, two sisters, Margaret W. Ostrom of Glen Mills, Pa. and Janice W. Good of Port St. Lucie, Fla., and a nephew, Laurence E. Ostrom of West Chester, Pa.
A memorial service will be offered at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014 at the Episcopal Church of the Advent, 401 N. Union Street in Kennett Square, A reception will follow in the church hall. Burial will be private in Longwood Cemetery. Arrangements are being handled by the Longwood Funeral Home.