Jean Wood

Jean Marie Wood was a woman in search of love all her life. She was born of Hispanic origin in Texas on the 7th of August in 1983. Marion Burchet of Watervilet, Michigan, became her foster mother while Jean was still an infant. For eleven years the two were a team. Jean loved her mom deeply. When Jean was eleven years old, however, Marion was afflicted with cancer. While she was ill, Jean would collect rent from and write receipts to the tenants of the apartment complex to help provide for her and her mother. Marion’s dying wish was that she could find a loving family for Jean.

With the help of a social worker Jean visited the Wood family. The Wood’s had six birth children and had adopted eight others at the time. The social worker was skeptical, wondering if this large social atmosphere at the Wood household would fit for Jean, since she had only known a two person family up till now. However, after a Saturday visit to the Wood residence, it was Monday when Jean surprised everyone and announced that she wanted to live with Jon and Rose Mary and all their children. The Woods agreed to take her into their family which would eventually grow to twenty people; two parents, eighteen children, six birth, and twelve adopted. Jean had found love once again.

Always maintaining straight “A’s” all the way through elementary and secondary school, Jean was a very intelligent young lady and always mature for her age. She attended Middle School in Gobles and high school at Hackett Catholic Central for three years earning membership in the National Honor Society. Her senior year was spent at Gobles High School where she graduated in 2001.

As she grew up, Jean continued to search for love and often found it in reading, accounting, and dancing. She would avidly delve into a Stephen King novel or a number of other mystery thrillers. Always having a special knack with numbers, Jean loved cashiering at Tiffany’s Wine and Spirit Shoppe in Kalamazoo and was in her last semester at KVCC, obtaining an associates degree in accounting.

There were few things that brought joy into Jean’s life like dancing. At the mere thought of it, she would get a childish gleam in her eye. She danced with the Kalamazoo Ballet Company and performed in a number of their productions, but especially loved their performance of Dracula.

Jean found love in her family. There are a particular few for whom she had a special place in her heart. She had a father in Jon Wood for the first time in her life. Her puppy dog, Puk, a Pekinese, whom she treated like a baby, always kept her company. Her two sisters Julia and Mary Grace whom she loved dearly and Rose Mary’s grandmother, Rose Savage all shared a special love with Jean. When Rose could no longer care for herself, she moved into the Wood household. Jean developed a very close relationship with her, spending time caring for and reading to her blind and aging great-grandmother.

When Jean was young she was an altar girl at her Catholic parish and spent a good deal of time with her church. The events she treasured most in her life however, were going to Mexico on trips with her good friend, Fr. Bob Flickinger, who referred to her as “Sweet Jean”. Traveling to the orphanages of Casa Amparo and Casa Hogar in Reynosa, Mexico, Jean and Fr. Bob took Christmas presents to and entertained the orphaned girls there. She enjoyed spending time with the nuns and simply being with the girls. Jean would have gone back in an instance if she had been able. As she grew older, she practiced her faith in a less public fashion and struggled with the hardest of theological problems of why bad things happen to good people. But Jean knew that God was there and loved her.

Jean loved people, Mexico, and the beach of Lake Michigan. She will be remembered as a beautiful, kind, well mannered, and loving young woman.

Like all of us Jean came into this world looking for love. She had to look harder for it than most, but she did find it along the way. We give thanks for the life of Jean Marie Wood and pray that the love of God has brought her safely home with Him.

Jean Marie Wood was tragically killed on January 25, 2005 in the city of Kalamazoo. She was preceded in death by her beloved great-grandmother, Rose Savage. Jean’s family includes, her parents, Jon and Rose Mary Wood of Paw Paw, her grandmother; Velura Wood of Vicksburg, her sisters; Melissa, Rebecca, Jennifer, Julia, Kimberly, Annalee, Lily, Michaela, and Mary Grace, her brothers; Jon, Jeremy, Isaac, Alexander, Cody, Patrick, Lewis and Samuel, many nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, her beloved dog, Puk, and her dear friend, Rev. Bob Flickinger.

Friends may visit with Jean’s family on Saturday, January 29, 2005 at 10 AM at St. Mary’s Catholic Church of Paw Paw with a Memorial Mass to be celebrated immediately following at 11 AM. Cremation will take place with a private family interment in Mendon Cemetery. A Mass has already been celebrated in her memory at Casa Hogar, Reynosa, Mexico. Please visit Jean’s personal memory page at www.lifestorynet.com where you can share a memory, send flowers, or make a memorial contribution to St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church for Casa Umparo and Casa Hogar in Mexico