George Wood

MISSOULA - George Wood passed away of natural causes Wednesday, December. 17, 2008, at age 82.





George was born November. 29, 1926, in Bisbee, N.D.





George served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and after his discharge in 1945 he attended and graduated with honors from the University of Montana in 1950. He married Sally Pearson in 1949.





George was the consummate father and was surrounded by his family





at his death. He enjoyed traveling and his experience with the national counsel allowed him to visit many beautiful locations in the United States. Every year since 1949, he vacationed at Averill’s Flathead Lake Lodge, where he honeymooned with his beautiful wife Sally. This year marked his 59th consecutive year at the lodge. He met many lifelong friends there including the current owners Doug and Maureen Averill and their children, who affectionately call him “Grampa George.”





George is survived by three daughters, Susan HagEstad of Dallas, Nancy Davis (Jerry) of Stevensville and Barbara Wood of Missoula. He has nine grandchildren, Peter (Amy) HagEstad and Patrick (Rachel) HagEstad of Missoula; Kris (Jennifer) HagEstad of Edmonton, Alberta; Matthew HagEstad, Andrew (Karen) HagEstad, Megan HagEstad and David (Rachel) HagEstad of Dallas; Amber (Darren Ota) of Pullman, Wash.; and Jackson Davis of Stevensville. He also had five great-grandchildren, Michael, Jonathan, Erika, Jessica, Brooklyn and two more great-grandchildren on the way; two sisters, Ellen Gray (Jack) of North Dakota and Phyllis Roberts of California; and two brothers, James Wood (Lorene) of Washington and John Wood (Francis) of Nevada.





Following in the footsteps of his devoted parents, George’s commitment to the Episcopal Church spanned his adult life. He taught Sunday school at St. Peter’s Episcopal Cathedral. He was many times a member of the vestry at Holy Spirit and entertained and enlivened countless diocese conventions. The pew to your left as you enter will be reserved in memory of George for the next four weeks.





He was preceded in death by his parents, George and Gladys Wood of North Dakota; his infant son in 1965; his wife, the former Sally Ann Pearson in 1974; his son, Harry “Hank” Wood in 1995; his son-in-law, Gary HagEstad 2008; and his two older sisters “Babe” Sinclair in 2003 and Dorothy Knauf in 2008.





George worked briefly as a teacher in Helena, and then began his lifelong career in workers’ compensation. He worked as a insurance company workers’ compensation adjuster-auditor until 1955 and was the insurance company state manager from 1955-1957. He was hearings officer/fund manager for the Montana Industrial Accident Board from 1957-1987. He founded and operated Compensation Adjusters, a third party administrator, from 1960-1988. After retiring, he continued in the role of the executive secretary of the Montana Self-Insurers Association and the Montana Self Insurers’ Guaranty Fund until his death. He lobbied for the Montana Self-Insurers Association from 1957 to present. He was also a member of the executive committee of the board of managers for the National Council of Self-Insurers from 1972 until present, serving as president from 2002-2004.





A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, December. 22, at Holy Spirit Parish of Missoula, at 130 S. Sixth St. E.





His family is grateful to Hospice of Missoula for its care and support in the final days of his life and suggests that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to George’s favorite charities, the Missoula Food Bank, the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation and Hospice of Missoula.
Read George Wood's Obituary and Guestbook.