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Oklahoman Archives
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
March 5, 2008
Regna Lee Wood died Monday, March 3, 2008, at home on the
family ranch near Spiro, Oklahoma. She was born in Oklahoma City
at St. Anthony's Hospital on June 15, 1924. Her parents were
Otto Lee and Bessie D. Simpson. She was baptized in the First
Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City. She remained a
Presbyterian all her life and for the last fifty-seven years was
a member of the Presbyterian Church in Poteau, Oklahoma. On
October 6, 1947, she and Fox Wood III, also an Oklahoma City
native, were married in the First Presbyterian Church in
Oklahoma City. Their wonderful marriage lasted for more than 60
years. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last
October at a dinner party for family and friends. Regna's early
education was in the Oklahoma City Public Schools - Eugene
Fields Grade School, Harding Junior High - where she was
president of the student body, and Classen High School. After
Classen, Regna enrolled in the nation's finest speech and drama
school, the Speech School at Northwestern University in
Evanston, Illinois, where she earned Bachelor's and Master's
degrees. She was a member of Tri Delta sorority. Her major
interest was acting. During her first year, the school faculty
selected her as the outstanding freshman. She played leading
roles in many school productions during her college years. Among
her classmates were Charleton Heston and his wife Lydia, Paul
Lynde, Pat Neal, Martha Hyer, Jean Verhagen, and Chloris
Leachman. While at Northwestern, she was cast member in the very
successful, long-running Chicago radio serial, Bachelor's
Children. During WWII, while a student at Northwestern, she
accumulated over 1,000 hours as a nurse's aide at Chicago's Cook
County Hospital. After college, Regna returned to Oklahoma City
where she was active in Little Theater productions. At 22, she
was a member of the teaching staff in the Speech Department at
the University of Oklahoma. In 1947, her future husband had
moved to Jackson, Mississippi as a geologist with Stanolind Oil
and Gas. In the fall of 1947, Millsaps College, an outstanding
liberal arts college in Jackson, hired Regna to establish its
first department of speech and drama. Jackson had an excellent
Little Theater organization and Regna played lead roles and
directed a number of productions. In 1949, Fox resigned his
position with Stanolind and enrolled in Oklahoma A&M College to
study animal husbandry and agronomy. When the couple moved to
Stillwater, Regna secured a position in the English Department
at Oklahoma A&;M. In 1950, the Woods began a farming and
ranching career in Poteau.
In 1951, through the generosity of Regna's parents, they were
able to acquire farm and ranch land in northern LeFlore County.
In 1955, they moved to their home on Cache Creek Ranch. The
ranch program involved field crops, hay, and registered and
commercial Hereford cattle. Regna was an avid swimmer. Every day
for the last fifty-two years, weather permitting, she drove to a
nearby abandoned coal strip pit and swam a mile. When all their
children were in school, Regna returned to teaching. She taught
freshman English and Composition at Connors State College in
Warner, Oklahoma. She made the 100 mile round trip to Warner
three or four times a week. Later, Regna taught English and
Speech at Westark Community College - now University of
Arkansas, Fort Smith. Over the years, Regna became increasingly
concerned with the poor public school background of many of her
college students. After she left Westark, she devoted the rest
of her life to research in literacy and public education. She
became research director for the National Right to Read
Foundation. Her articles on education and literacy were
published in national magazines, foundation reports, and
newspapers. In 1999, after she had written a complete phonics
reading program, she established Sound Letters, Inc. to publish
and market her program. The company holds U.S. copyrights and
trademarks and a U.S. Patent on Sound Letters - a set of
slightly modified alphabet letters that she designed. Regna was
an exhibitor and presenter at education and literacy conferences
in eight states and the District of Columbia. She was a member
of the Correctional Education Assn. And her program is being
used with great success in a number of prisons. When the Woods
moved to LeFlore County they became active in the Republican
Party on the county, state, and national level. Regna served as
LeFlore County chairman and vice-chairman of the 3rd
Congressional District. In 1980, she was a delegate to the
Republican National Convention in Dallas.
Regna was predeceased by her two sisters, Hazel Bracken and
Dorothy Brawner. She is survived by her husband and three sons,
Fox Wood IV, his wife Karen, and their three children - Megan,
Casey and her son, Braxton; Fox V, his wife Autumn, and their
daughters, Disney and Jakelyn; Clark Wood, his wife Dian, and
her granddaughter, Desmynn; and Stephen Wood. Nephews and nieces
are Margaret Perez, Dr. John Brawner, Mary Chambers, Dr. Sarah
Thompson, and Janet, David, and Kim Bracken. In 1989, Regna was
diagnosed with breast cancer. For more than 18 years she endured
surgery, countless diagnostic tests, and hundreds of injections
without a single complaint. She was always grateful to her
surgeon, Dr. Rainey Williams, her first oncologist, Dr. Brad
Slease, and to her plastic surgeon, Dr. Ed Dalton. Greatly
appreciated were those who, over the years, served as her family
physician - Doctors Ted Clemens, Richard Winters, Tim Coussons,
and Robert Williams. In the last few months, Doctors Don Murray
and William Cook helped make her more comfortable. There was a
special place in her heart for Dr. Brian Geister, her oncologist
for eighteen years, and his wonderful nurses and staff at Cancer
Care Associates in Oklahoma City. The family is indebted to the
people at Peachtree Hospice in Poteau, Oklahoma for their loving
care.
Funeral services will be Thursday, March 6, 2008, at 1:00
p.m., at the Poteau Presbyterian Church, under the direction of
Mallory-Martin Funeral Home of Spiro. Interment will follow at
Short Mountain Cemetery
near Cowlington, Oklahoma.
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