Ms. Joann Wood, of Winston-Salem, NC, departed from this earthly life on Wednesday July 26th, 2023. She is survived by her youngest son, Scott Wood; her three grandchildren, Ashleigh Ragsdale Pilcher, Jordan Wood and Collin Wood; great-grandchildren Brenton Ragsdale and Aaron Pilcher; and nieces Kathryn Watson Vogel and Cynthia Watson Vogel as well as several grand-nieces and grand-nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents Bill and Betty Watson, sister Janet Watson and her eldest son Gregory Alan Wood.
Born May 15, 1946, Joann was a lifetime North Carolinian and an accountant by trade. An admitted workaholic in her young adulthood, she sustained a traumatic back injury in the early 80s that left her totally disabled for the rest of her life. True to her fighting spirit and type-A personality, Joann did not let that slow her down though. She remained active, maintaining accounting clients for the next 30 years while volunteering as a pain management counselor to help others with severe pain. But her most cherished job title of all was grandmother.
Known affectionately as Nana, she spent countless hours and dollar bills taking her grandchildren and their friends to skating rinks, amusement parks, on beach trips and so much more. Anywhere her grandkids were, rest assured Nana was somewhere nearby sitting in a booth with a book or a group of other parents leading conversation. An avid book-reader, she passed this love onto her grandchildren by buying copies of the Harry Potter books for everyone on release day, reading together with them and discussing thoughts and theories on future books. She was also a very active volunteer and an occasional substitute teacher at Lewisville Elementary School. Known as Miss Joann to students, she believed students should be taught financial literacy and so created a fun competitive math game for 5th graders where students got to learn how to budget, write checks, balance checkbooks and handle the various costs, expected and unexpected, of adult life. Miss Joann and her game was so beloved by her 5th graders that she was even voted in 2004 as teacher of the year, despite not even being an official employee but as a volunteer parent.
A notorious stickler for rules, Joann still maintained a wicked sense of fun and humor even as her health failed her in later years. She was the kind of person that made everyone who spent any significant amount of time with her a better person. Joann will be remembered for a lifetime of lessons, love and laughter and countless memories her loved ones will cherish for all of an eternity. Though there is a deep sorrow and sense of loss for her loved ones, there is solace knowing that she is no longer in pain. The gratitude of having such a wonderful woman in life is great, far greater even than the immense pain that such a loss can inflict on those left behind. The real loss lies with those who were never fortunate enough to have been touched by such an incredible human being as Joann Wood. “To have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever.”
A private family memorial service will be held in the near future.
Colonial Funeral Home Stokes Chapel in Sandy Ridge is serving the family.
Online condolences may be offered at www.colonialfh.net.
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