Elinor Woodard

Elinor Ann (Dosher) Woodard passed from this earth into eternal rest on May 15, 2018, just short of her 95th birthday. Elinor Ann was the second born child of Robert Smith Dosher and Jessie McMorrough Dosher. She was born on August 15, 1923, in Speegleville, Texas. Elinor Ann grew up in Waco, in a loving Christian home with her only sibling, sister, Johnny Smith Dosher Lamb. She graduated from Academy of the Sacred Heart in Waco and attended 4-C Business School. She was a secretary at the Roosevelt Hotel in Waco. It was during the war years that she met and married handsome US Army Air Corps Cadet, J. N. (Woody) Woodard, in May 1945. Thus beginning her life as a military wife. Several moves were to come: Arizona, California, then Hawaii, where her first child, Jan Neil, was born. They were transferred back to the states, settling in the Austin area, where her second child, Dixie Ann, was born. Then more moves: Missouri, Texas, and Kansas. Captain Woodard and family were looking for a place to retire. Elinor Ann wanted to be close to her parents, so they decided to move to Waco. They purchased a home in Woodway, where her children grew up and graduated from Midway High School.

Elinor Ann was an involved mother throughout her children’s school years: PTA, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, sports, and band. She was employed at Providence Hospital in Nursing Service for many years. After Dixie graduated from high school, Ann and Woody moved to Brownsville, Texas, then Nashville, Tennessee, for Woody’s job. When she was widowed at age 49, she returned to Waco and went back to work at Providence Hospital. After a few years she moved to Georgetown to live with her daughter and her family. She lived with Dixie for about 12 years. She decided she needed to be on her own again, so once again, back to Waco. She resided in her own home; then Stilwell Retirement Residence. She attended Richfield Christian Church while in Waco. Her health began to fail and her family moved her to their home in Liberty Hill, Texas.

Elinor Ann was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; her son; her sister, Johnny Smith Lamb; her brother-in-laws, J.P. Lamb and Warren Lowen; her sister-in-laws, Dixie Woodard Lowen and Lois Woodard Madsen; her nephews, Jim Lamb and Gary Lowen; and her niece-in-law, Kathy Lamb.

She is survived by her daughter, Dixie Ann Martin and husband, Jack of Liberty Hill, Texas; three grandchildren, John Dupree Martin and wife, Sarah of Allen, Texas, Danielle Neil Czyzewski and husband, Ed of Colleyville, Texas, and Scott Hamilton Woodard and wife, Elizabeth of Dallas, Texas; six great grandchildren, Zachary Thomas Martin, Sylvek Czyzewski, Olivia Czyzewski, Eleanor Anne Woodard, Amelia Jane Woodard, and Knox Hamilton Woodard; two nieces, Sherry Pattillo and husband, Spike and Dixie Kea Gardiner and husband, Chris; two nephews, Robert Lamb and Bill Lamb; great nieces and nephews and many, many cousins and friends! And daughter by choice, Judy Collins and husband, Louis.