Obit – Mr. Gordy Woodard

Mr. Gordy Woodard of the Tanglewood Community died at 9:11 a.m. Tuesday evening, September 26, 2023 under the care of Caris Hospice following an extended fight with pancreatic disease. He was 67.

Funeral services were conducted from the Carthage Chapel of Sanderson Funeral home at 1:00 p.m. Friday afternoon, September 29, with his brother-in-law, Pastor Lanny Thomas officiating.  Interment followed in the Garden of Everlasting Life at the Smith County Memorial Gardens.

Born Gordon Neal Thomas at the Petty-Green Clinic on July 25, 1956, he was one of seven children of the late James Swope “Buddy” Woodard who died on June 5, 1997 at the age of 69, and Mildred Earline Hunt Woodard who survives.

His only brother, James Randall “Buck” Woodard, died on June 26, 2016 at the age of 61.  A sister, Vickie Teresa Woodard Harville preceded him in death on October 18, 2022 at the age of 70.

Mr. Woodard was a member of the Class of 1974 at Smith County High School where he majored in Co-op education.  He was a member of the V. I. C. A. club all four years and his sophomore and junior year he was a member of the Pep Club.

Following graduation, he worked at the Snow Creek Service Station before beginning employment with JMZ at the zinc mine.  At the time of his death, he was with the current mining operations of Tennessee Valley Resources.

He had attended the Brush Creek Missionary Baptist Church.

Surviving in addition to his mother are two children, Melissa Woodard Baker of Murfreesboro, Stacy Woodard & wife Brittany of Knoxville; four sisters, Nancy Woodard of Carthage, Margaret West & husband Paul of the Tanglewood Community, Brenda Thomas & husband Lanny of the Union Camp Community, Sherry Goolsby & husband Jim also of Tanglewood Community; three grandchildren, Addison Baker, Ace Landon Woodard, and Lennox Gray Woodard.

The Woodard family requested memorials to the Jordan Hackett Foundation.

SANDERSON of CARTHAGE