Olaf Ray Wood

(Aug. 4, 1938 - April 14, 2020)

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Olaf Ray Wood passed away on the morning of April 14, 2020, at the Parkview Care Center in Billings, Montana, at the age of 81.

He was born on Aug. 4, 1938, in Sheridan, Wyoming, to Roy and Blanch Wood, the second of three children. As a young man, he enjoyed riding and training horses.

He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a teen and was active for the rest of his life. He met his sweetheart, Leora, at a church dance in Billings, and knew that she was the girl for him.

He graduated high school in 1961 and joined the Air Force, went to training, came back and married Leora Ann Schow, in Sheridan on Dec. 15, 1962. They were sealed in the Idaho Falls Temple a few days later. In the years that followed, being in the Air Force, he moved a lot with his family and had one or two children at each place. Olaf and Leora had eight children.

He served in Klamath Falls, Oregon; Novato, California; Madrid, Spain; San Antonio and Lubbock, Texas; and Indian Springs, Nevada. He also served in the Vietnam War after he was stationed in California. He retired from the Air Force after 20 years and settled in Powell to finish raising his family.

He worked for Lockheed Aircraft in Saudi Arabia for three years but did not want to move his family there. He decided to go to college for welding from1985-1986. He made many fun welded things, among which is a flatbed trailer that is still used by the family today. After that, he decided to start truck driving as a career.

Ray loved to travel. He enjoyed his truck driving days and seeing the whole of the lower 48 United States and parts of Canada. Even though he was away a lot, he loved his family and always tried to make it home for the holidays and important events in his children’s lives.

Ray retired from truck driving in 2003, after a heart attack, and spent many nice times with his wife.

His wife died at home in 2007. He lived in Powell until 2014. After a stroke, he moved to Billings. He overcame that stroke and had many enjoyable years living at Highgate Senior Living. He was a favorite among the caretakers there with his fun attitude and teasing ways. He would often visit his children in Idaho, Wyoming and California. For his 80th birthday, he flew out to Placerville, California, for a big celebration with his children.

He is survived by Raelene and Scott Brown of Lovell; Bert and Kristin Wood of Anza, California; David and Gretta Wood of San Jose, California; Glen and Heather Wood of Placerville, California; Alvin and Stacy Wood of Billings; Jared Wood of Cody; Tammy and Brent Timothy of Boise, Idaho; Alisha and Javier Balderas of Pollock Pines, California; his sister Ethel Sheets of Cody; brother McKinley and Cynthia Wood of Gillette, Wyoming; his sister-in-law Diana Miller of Billings; and 28 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services are being taken care of by Thompson Funeral Home. They will be held at the Powell cemetery at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 18, 2020.

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