Dr. Wayne Wood, son of the late Estes Worth Wood and Emily Margaret Johnson Wood, was born on November 11, 1926 in Karnak, Illinois and departed this life on July 3, 2013 at Golden Living Center in Dexter, Missouri at the age of 86 years.

Dr. Wood was a member of the First Baptist Church in Dexter and was a resident of Dexter.  He pastored several churches in Southeast Missouri.  He retired as the head of the Education Department at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar.  He was a Veteran of the United States Army and served in World War II. 

On January 13, 1945, he was united in marriage to Ruth N. Hickerson in Blytheville, Arkansas.  Mrs. Wood preceded him in death on February 24, 2012.

He is survived by one daughter, Maria Chamberlain and husband, Tim, of Dexter, Missouri; by two grandchildren, Wesley Tolbert and wife, Allison, of Houston, Texas and Emily Crow and husband, Dr. Brad Crow, of Danville, California; by two great-grandchildren, Sarah Tolbert and Lydia Tolbert; by one great-great-grandchild, Jaxon Slavings; by two step-grandchildren, Ashley Thomas of Tallahassee, Florida and Beau Chamberlain of Dexter, Missouri; by one step-great-grandchild, Brayden Thomas; by two sisters, Edith Collie of Peoria, Illinois and Nila Kotter of Metropolis, Illinois; and by a niece who was raised in the home as a daughter, Sue Foster and husband, Ernest, of Mountain View.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by two brothers, Paul Wood and Raymond Wood and by six sisters, Opal Lowe, Sylvia Johnson, Fern Meyer, Niva Bremer, Evan June Riepe and Helen Wood.

Friends may call at the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter on Friday, July 12, 2013 from 11:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. 

Funeral services will be conducted in the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Chapel on Friday, July 12, 2013. 

Interment will follow in the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield, Missouri.