Paul D. Woodbury

Sanford, MaineRev. Paul D. Woodbury, Jr., was born July 25, 1924 in Glen Ridge, NJ., the son of Paul D. and Lillian May Law Woodbury, Sr. He was educated in the Worcester , Mass. School System, and his home church was Covenant United Methodist, in Worcester. He was one of three young men to come out of Covenant Church and enter the Christian Ministry. He graduated from Maryville College, Maryville Tenn. in 1950, from Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC in 1954. He served churches in the Baltimore Conference while in Seminary, at Bedford Valley, Pa. a circuit of four churches, at Hollywood, Maryland, and in the Holston Conference, Bungalow United Methodist Church, in the rural area of Maryville, Tenn. In New England Annual Conference he served First Methodist, Saxonville, Mass now Framingham, Highland Union, Lowell, Asbury UMC, Springfield, was Asst. ~Protestant Chaplain at Boston State Hospital, Pastor at Chartley UMC, Norton,. Centreville UMC, West Warwick, RI, Agawam UMC , Feeding Hills, and Mt. Bellingham UMC, Chelsea. He retired from the active pastoral responsibility in 1990 . He was active in community service, in the various places he served. He served Ecumenically with a Radio Broadcast, Lift for Living, while in Lowell, Chairman of the Pastoral Services Division of the Springfield Council of Churches, Held leadership responsibility in the various ministerial associations of the different communities. He was a member of the Rotary Club,International, in Agawam and Chelsea, Past President of the Agawam Rotary Club. He was a member of the College of Chaplains, National Mental Health Chaplains Assn., Association of Clinical Pastoral Education, and locally in the conference a Member of the Friars, now the Wesley Club, and the Itinerant's club of the Southern New England Annual Conference.He was also a member of the Massachusetts Chaplain's Association. Masonically, he was a member of Ancient York Lodge in Lowell, Roswell Lee Samuel Osgood Lodge, Springfield, and a member of Pioneer Valley Consistory , 32 .He holds the Paul Harris Fellow Award from Rotary International. His ministry began with his Local Preacher's License granted in 1947 in the Old New England Conference from Covenant UMC. He was ordained Deacon in the Old New England Conference in 1951 and became a full member and Elder's Orders in 1954. He served as camp counselor and teacher at Rolling Ridge and Camp Aldersgate, for over a period of 13 years. He earned a Master's Degree in Psychology and Counseling from Springfield College in 1967, and has worked in this field throughout his ministry in varied responsibilities. He was a substitute teacher in the public school systems through Temp ED, and guidance counselor, also being called by various school systems in the communities of his parishes. His major field of teaching was in the sciences. General Science and Biology. During World War II, he served in the US Navy for 11 years, both active duties as well as Navy Reserve. His field in the military was in Navy Medicine, in the hospital laboratory, operating room, and as an independent duty corpsman.He is survived by his wife, Gail D.(Moylon) Woodbury of Sanford, Maine; a son John Paul Woodbury and his wife Yvonne of Lynn, MA; a daughter Nancy Woodbury Greene and her husband Robert of Cumberland, RI; a sister Betty Dalbeck and her husband Wesley of Worcester, MA; 4 grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.Graveside services will be held at 1:00 PM on Tuesday in West Ridge Cemetery, Charlton, MA. If desired, donations may be made in his memory to Deaconess Rivercrest Homes 80 Deaconess Rd., Concord, MA. 01742. Arrangements completed by Heald Funeral Home 580 Main Street, Springvale, Maine.