PICAYUNE — Funeral services for Earl Glade Woods , 75 of Picayune, are Monday at 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church of Picayune. Woods passed away on Friday.

Visitation is from 9 to 11 a.m. Monday at the church.

Burial will be in New Palestine Cemetery under the direction of McDonald Funeral Home.

Dr. Keith Warden will officiate the service, assisted by Dr. Raymon Leake.

Woods was born in Brookhaven and raised in Jackson. He graduated from Mississippi State University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1960 and a MEA in Industrial Engineering from the University of Utah in 1979. He attended numerous graduate courses in MBA and Technical Management.

Woods was a deacon of First Baptist Church of Picayune. He was on many committees at the church, including chairman of the Building Committee for the LINK. He worked over 40 years at Stennis Space Center, mostly with NASA. He also worked at Stennis with NOAA and MSU’s Northern Gulf Institute. He received NASA’s Exceptional Service Award twice. He was Career Federal Employee of the Year for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Area.

Woods was appointed by Gov. Kirk Fordice as director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. He was appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour to the Recovery and Revitalization Committee after Hurricane Katrina. He served on the board of the NASA Infinity Space Science Center at Stennis Space Center. He was a board member of The First bank and Crosby Arboretum. He received the Picayune Jaycee Distinguished Service Award. Woods was chairman of the Picayune school board and was chairman of the Picayune Downtown Revitalization Committee. He was president of the Picayune Civitan Club.

Woods, with his wife Jo, began a leadership training program for Pearl River County. The Partners in Leadership just graduated its 10th class. Jo Woods, his wife of 54 years said, “We met as seniors; we were at a Y-teen dance and some girl didn’t like me dancing with the person I was dancing with, so she sent Glade to cut in. The rest is history.”

The couple moved to Picayune in 1965 because he was employed at Stennis.

“We were so happy to leave New Orleans and move here,” said Jo Woods.

Jo Woods said, “Partners for Pearl River County has been a labor of love for Glade. His example has inspired a passion in the rest of us. His inspiration to serve God, community, family and friends that has kept us all wanting to do more. Glade didn’t care what race, religious or political affiliation someone had. If they wanted to serve the community, Glade was all about helping them and encouraging them to do it.”

In the future, Jo Woods said a way to honor her husband is by continuing his goals of getting an alumni class going and keeping the leadership class going for Partners of Pearl River County.

Partners for Pearl River County Leadership Class Facilitator Rod Lincoln said, “He was certainly a great community leader, he put the community ahead of his own personal needs. He had the foresight to know what needed to be done and the initiative to make it happen. Of course, it is hard to talk about Glade without mentioning Jo and all of the support she gave him throughout the years. He definitely left a big fingerprint on the county.

“He was most proud of the diversity in Partners for Pearl River County; proud of getting the wide diversity of people with different job responsibilities and agendas to come together and spend time learning about the county to make it a better place. He was able to get most of the 100 speakers who came every year to participate. He will be irreplaceable. I can’t see anyone who is as non-political as he was, that would have an interest in leadership development, who could bring the diversity students and speakers through. It would probably take two people to do a fraction of the job that Glade did so well.

“He was not able to attend the last graduation due to health reasons. However, one of the last things he did afterwards was to give three of us a maroon shirt with the partners logo to signify that he wanted us to continue on,” Lincoln said.

City of Picayune Economic Development Director Harvey Miller said, “Glade Woods was one of the finest Christian men I’ve ever known. Glade walked the walk and talked the talk. He is an icon in our area. He is well known throughout the state. He has made such a tremendous impact in Pearl River County and the state of Miss.”

Picayune Mayor Ed Pinero said, “Mr. Glade was a fine outstanding man who committed his life to the city of Picayune. He will be greatly missed.”

Picayune City Manager Jim Luke said, “He was a fine, caring, Southern gentleman. When he passed away, he brought a piece of Picayune with him. He knew everyone in Mississippi from the governor to the gardener and was equally kind to everyone. The county and community are better off because he was here and gave of his talents and abilities. We are all better off for having known him.”

Dr. Scott Langlois, MSU Extension Researcher and Partners for Pearl River County Leadership Class facilitator says, “I am honored to have been able to work with and learn from Mr. Glade over these last six years. I used to think that I was learning about community development and leadership, but now I realize that Mr. Glade’s message was so much more than that. He taught me how to be a better person. I am eternally grateful for the time I was able to spend with Glade Woods.”

Head and Extension/Research Professor of Horticulture, Tricia R. Knight, Ph. D., says, “I’ve known Glade for more than 10 years. I was a member of the first Partner’s for Leadership class and have been involved with every class since. For as long as I’ve known Glade, he was the embodiment of grace and class. I learned more about true leadership from watching him work with the leadership classes than I could ever learned from just sitting in a class. I considered him a friend and mentor.

Neighbors Sandy and John Houston describe Woods as, “... a kind, gentle and caring Christian man who strived to improve the community through education and training. He was an active community leader and a stand up Miss. State fan. He will be missed by church neighbors friends and community.”

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Jo Corley Woods, his children, Earl “Woody” Woods and wife Lee, Scott Corley Woods, and Lee Anne Futrell and husband David, his grandchildren, Ethan Woods, Corley Woods, Whitney Woods, Reagan Woods, and Matthew Futrell and his sister, Frances Woods Behnke.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Baptist Church of Picayune REG Building Fund, P.O. Box 477, Picayune, MS 39466 or Mississippi State University Bulldog Club Capital Fund, P.O. Box BT, MSU, MS 39762.

Partners for Pearl River County Leadership Class graduates are asked to wear their white shirts and sit on the right during the funeral service.