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- Jim Wood is the author of THE SNUFFERS (1989), which is THE resource for research on the Snouffer/Schnauffer and Snuffer families. His pioneering research, involving years of hard work uncovering factual information that nobody had traced before, has been invaluable to all who have sought information about the families. It is a pleasure to recognize his achievements on behalf of the family. Regretably, too many "researchers" have "borrowed" his information and used it for their own purposes without giving appropriate credit to him.
Jim's biographical note in his book modestly states: "James Lee Wood Jr. (Jim Wood), ... BA journalism, University of Kentucky, ret. newspaper editor, b. 12 Apr 1925, Herndon, W. Va. m. 1. Gladys Webb div. 2. 2 June 1956 Nancy Joyce Balding, office manager, b. 17 July 1934, Page, W. Va., dau. of David Leroy and Georgia Marie (Payne) Balding. No Children." (THE SNUFFERS, p. 182)
Obituary, The [Beckley, WV] Register-Herald (9 May 2010):
"James Lee (Jim Wood) Wood Jr. of Beckley died Monday, May 3, 2010. He was 85 years old.
"Born April 12, 1925, in Herndon, Wyoming County, he was a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School, Beckley, class of 1943, and the University of Kentucky, class of 1947, where he was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon social fraternity. He had been a resident of Beckley since 1939.
"Wood was a former managing editor of the Beckley Post Herald and the last editor of the Raleigh Register, predecessors of The Register-Herald. For 10 years he wrote a twice weekly newspaper column, "The Wood File."
"A member of the Raleigh County Historical Society, the Fayette-Raleigh Counties Genealogical Society, and the Writers' Group at the Raleigh County Public Library, he was the author of the 724-page "Raleigh County, West Virginia," a history of the county published by the historical society, and the "Raleigh County Mine Deaths 1891-2000," a 214-page history of the county's mine fatalities. His history of Beckley's Wildwood Cemetery was included in a booklet on the cemetery published by the historical society. He also wrote histories of the Wood and Snuffer families.
"His unpublished works include "Where's the Body?" a 90-page tale of newspaper life in a small West Virginia town (Beckley), and a documented paper on the Indian Warpaths in Raleigh County. For many years he transcribed part of the Smith-Riffe Collection of New River Genealogy and History for the genealogical society.
"The son of the late James Wood Sr. and Tressie Snuffer Wood, he was also preceded in death by his former wife, Joyce Balding Wood, and his sister, Charlotte Wood Hampton of Charlotte, N.C. He is survived by his brother-in-law, Varge Hampton of Charlotte; two nieces, Mrs. James (Victoria Hampton) Blaine of Atlanta, Ga., and Mrs. Eric (Lisa Hampton) Kolb of Chapel Hill, N.C., and their husbands; a nephew, James Scott Hampton and his wife, Wendy, of Greensboro, N.C., two grandnieces, Amanda Kolb of Chapel Hill and Holly Hampton of Greensboro, and a grandnephew, Brent Kolb of Chapel Hill."
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