Dr. Evan Wood, 72, West Plains, Missouri, departed this life on July 3, 2022, at Ozarks Healthcare after battling Parkinson's disease for several years. Dr. Evan Homer Wood (born Elbert Homer Wood, Jr. and known by Sonny since his youth) was born on August 11, 1949 in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, to Elbert Homer Wood and Mattie Nell Hall Wood. He graduated from Columbia, Mississippi High School in 1967. He always aspired to be a doctor but chose pharmacy as a profession while applying to medical school and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy from the University of Mississippi in 1973. He worked as a pharmacist until his acceptance into The University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1982. Dr. Wood opened his obstetrics and gynecology practice known as Women's Care in West Plains in 1988 and retired from practice in 2016. A partnership with Dr. Robert Jones and Dr. Greg Hubbard resulted in the creation of the Howell Valley Medical Park and the building of the West Plains Surgery Center, which opened in July of 2005. Evan was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on September 14, 1968. His callings in the church included a counselor in the Bishopric, youth Sunday school teacher and a counselor in the young men's program, among others. He married Lisa Marie Forgey on October 19, 1995, in Springfield, Missouri. They were married for time and all eternity in the St. Louis, Missouri Temple on May 16, 2013. Dr. Wood was constantly active and an avid outdoorsman. He loved hunting for deer and turkey on his hunting property in Oregon County. He also hunted for bear in Russia, elk in Montana, moose in Alaska, wild hogs in Mississippi and Oklahoma and brought home a beautiful 19-point whitetail while bow hunting in southeast Kansas. Fishing was his second favorite outdoor activity from Canadian lakes to deep sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and numerous lakes and rivers in between. He loved horses from a young age. He raised and trained Missouri Fox trotters for more than 10 years, culminating with a Three-year-old Futurity amateur Owned Championship on "All That Jazz" and a Three-Year-Old Futurity amateur Owned & Trained Championship riding "Patriot's All-American". Soon after retiring from the horse showing circuit, he wanted to learn to fly. He earned his visual pilot's license and achieved his instrument flight rating as he learned to fly his Cessna 180. He assisted with coaching his sons' baseball and basketball teams. He is survived by his wife of 26 years, Lisa; and their two sons, Tyler Wood and wife, Kindall, and Austin Wood; daughter, Andria Bullock; three sons, Sergei (Matt) Wood, Kyle Wood, Nashville, and Nathan Wood; his mother, Nell Wood; sister, Kay Newsom and husband, Bob; two brothers, Steve Wood and wife, Alecia, and Bob Davis; six grandchildren; and two great grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his father, Elbert Homer Wood.
Burial will be in Oak Lawn Cemetery.
Published in Springfield News-Leader, July 7, 2022