Vera Woodstock, noted volunteer, dead at 76

By Shayna Coleon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Dedicated Red Cross volunteer nurse and local community service leader Vera La June Woodstock, 76, of Honolulu, died Tuesday after a one-year battle with lung cancer.

Born in 1925 in Missouri, Woodstock moved to O'ahu with her Air Force husband and three children in 1964. As a registered nurse, Woodstock started volunteering at Hickam Air Force Base during the Vietnam War.

Woodstock's daughter, Linda "Dusty" Bleadon, said her mother would relieve the nurses who were on board the air evacuation airplanes that landed at Hickam before they transported their wounded to hospitals on the Mainland.

"She would get up all hours of the night when she got called out there," Bleadon said.

Volunteering became Woodstock's lifetime profession. She was a longtime Red Cross volunteer nurse at Tripler Army Medical Center and was recognized as the center's "volunteer of the year" for three years.

"She was a lovely lady," said Gertrud Lynagh, a Red Cross volunteer. "Other volunteers would come into the office, and if they didn't know what to do, Vera smiled and always helped them."

Woodstock was also presented the American Red Cross Hawai'i State Chapter's "Volunteer of the Year" honor in 1993, the Silver Good Citizenship Medal from the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and the "First Ladies Outstanding Volunteer Award" in 1994 from former first lady Lynn Waihee.

In addition to her daughter, Woodstock is survived by her husband, Ray Earl; son, Larry; half sister, Rayne Brooks; and one grandson.

A memorial service was held yesterday at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. The family prefers that memorial contributions go to a fund for medical research of one's choice.