Memorial benefit to honor Woolard

Published 11:13 pm Sunday, February 14, 2016

CONTRIBUTED IN MEMORY: The life of Guy Woolard, a former Washington resident who died Jan. 31, will be celebrated Saturday during a memorial benefit.

CONTRIBUTED
IN MEMORY: The life of Guy Woolard, a former Washington resident who died Jan. 31, will be celebrated Saturday during a memorial benefit.

A generous man who loved life and touched the lives of those around him will be remembered this weekend during an event in Washington.

A memorial benefit for Guy Woolard, a former Washington resident who resided in Greenville at the time of his death, is planned for Saturday at the Washington Moose Lodge on Flanders Filters Road, according to event organizer Tracy O’Carroll. Woolard passed away Jan. 31 from complications of pulmonary fibrosis.

The benefit was in the planning stages when Woolard died, O’Carroll said. Initial hopes were to raise money for a lung transplant but Woolard passed away before he could be added to the transplant list.

“Now we’re doing this to help Guy’s son Jordan and to help with medical bills,” O’Carroll said.

The all-day event begins at 11 a.m. and will include music provided by the Eli Craig Band, Phoenix, Side Project, Mikele Buck Band and K-OS. The day’s activities will also include a corn hole tournament, moonwalk for children and a cake auction.

Barbecue plate tickets are being sold for $8 each and raffle tickets are also available for a variety of donated items and gift certificates. Donations will be accepted as well.

Woolard was a man who cared about his fellow man, according to O’Carroll.

“The one thing that stands out in every body’s mind is the toy drive he did at Christmas,” she said. “People would donate toys and wrapping paper and then they’d gather at his house to wrap the presents and deliver them. He would drop whatever he was doing to help people; he was one of a kind.”

Woolard was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in February 2015, recalled his fiancée Jennie Jones. Hopes were high that he could be placed on the lung transplant waiting list in order to have a lifesaving operation.

“He was in the hospital in Greenville and they were trying to move him to Duke but weren’t able to because he was on so much oxygen,” Jones said.

The couple met in January 2015 shortly before Woolard was diagnosed. Jones said it was a blessing to be together even though Woolard was sick much of the time.

“He just had the biggest heart of anybody I ever met,” she said. “When he was in the hospital over 200 people came to tell him goodbye; but the entire time he would ask everybody how they were doing. He was at peace with it because he knew he was going home to see his daddy.”

Woolard was especially good with young people, Jones shared.

“I called him a child whisperer,” she said. “Kids and teenagers loved him.”

Saturday’s memorial benefit is a fitting way to celebrate the life of Guy Woolard, according to O’Carroll.

“Please just come out and hear the stories as we remember Guy with his family and friends,” she said. “This will be fun, which is something Guy would have wanted.”

To purchase barbecue tickets or for more information about the Guy Woolard Memorial Benefit, contact O’Carroll at 252-402-6292 or visit the “Guy Jennie Woolard Memorial” Facebook page.