Victor L. Wood passed away at his home on the night of Saturday, September 19.
He was born in Leon County, Texas. Even though he moved to Louisiana as a youngster, he was proud of his roots and rocked a slight Texas accent to the end of his life.
Vic married Claudia Marie Chauvin and spent many years living in Terrebonne Parish, where he worked offshore for Texaco and ran a small family farm. Though Vic and Claudia were divorced almost forty years ago, they stayed close and became best friends, often functioning as a team.
An avid musician and life-long learner, Vic fiddled in the Wood Family Cajun Bluegrass Band. He was flawless when it came to fiddling by ear, but when he moved to Eunice in 2006, he joined the Eunice Symphony Orchestra and learned to read music and play the violin.
More recently, he bought a banjo and was learning to pick, practicing with the help of YouTube. Even though he was almost 80 when he first sat at a computer, he took to the Internet like a duck to water. When they were growing up, Vic’s grandkids liked to call their PawPaw the World’s Oldest Cool Dude. This was a name he truly lived up to, given his unexpected yet spot-on sense of humor, passion for telling a great story, willingness to tackle any new endeavor, and good cheer when lending a helping hand.
Vic is survived by two sons, Travis and Buck Wood, and their wives Destari and Gina; one sister, Judy McKamie; grandchildren Annie, Joshua, Benjamin, Breagan, Marsela, and Dela; and two great-grandchildren, Madison and August.
He was laid to rest at Mt. Calvary Cemetery on Thursday.
Vic was preceded in death by Claudia; his parents, Victor D. Wood and Nell Tubb Wood; and his brother, Vernon “Beau” Wood.