Val Waddoups Woodward passed away in the peaceful company of loved ones on Friday, June 6, 2014. Family and friends remember him with warmth and fondness as the kindest person, a caring and effective teacher, a colleague of high integrity, fun and engaging company, gently humorous, open and sharing, appealingly good looking, inclusive and international in friendships, a worker for social justice, vigorous and athletic right into his mid-seventies, and, in his last years, generous and patient in sickness. He is deeply missed.
Born in 1927 in Preston, Idaho, to Rollo and Hazel Woodward, Val grew up in Logan, Utah, graduated from Logan High (Class '45), served in the U.S. WWII navy, and earned degrees from Utah State University (bachelor's), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (Ph. D., 1953), and Brookhaven, NY (postdoctoral fellow). He was Professor of Genetics at Kansas State, Wichita State, Rice University, and for 33 years at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis/St. Paul campus. His publications include dozens of research articles in highly regarded scientific journals, two textbooks, and memoirs of his father and growing up in Logan. Val won essentially every teaching and human rights award given by the University of Minnesota, and the even more satisfying tribute of continued contact and friendship from former students and associates. Friends and colleagues from numerous countries and all continents kept in touch for decades. Val retired in 2000 to Garden City, Utah, overlooking Bear Lake, and later wintered in Salt Lake City.
Val's life is remembered with joy by his wife Clare Woodward, son and spouse Jim and Terry Woodward, daughter and spouse Kathryn and; Larry Bittner, daughter-in-law Carol Woodward, grandchildren Adrian and Jessica Woodward, Alana and Dan Brooks, Chandra Baca, Deanna and Kevin Budack, Valerie Woodward, Dawn and Peter Drlik, Lauren Bittner, Dustin Bittner, and 8 great/great-great grandchildren. He grieved to his final days the death of his son, Dean. Val's heart held special affection for brothers Ken Woodward and Dow Woodward, sisters Ann Porter and Ruth Harris, and their families.
As he wished, Val is to be buried privately. A memorial gathering will be announced at a future time. Val's wife and children will be at home to visit with family and friends on Thursday, June 12, from 4-7 p.m. at 77 C St. Salt Lake City, 84103 - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/hjnews/obituary.
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