A celebration of Dick Woods’ life took place on Saturday, March 13th at St. Joseph Catholic Parish in Dexter Michigan. There  bor, MI.

View the mass program here

Eulogy of Dick Woods by Vince Drnevich

Introduction

• My name is Vincent Drnevich and Dick Woods was like a big brother to me.
•  Allow me to explain.
  • We both graduated from Notre Dame in 1962, Dick with his MS degree and I with my BS degree.
  • In my last semester, we collaborated on a demonstration project for Engineering Open House.
  • We remained in contact from then on.
  • We both completed our Ph.D. degrees at the Univ. of Michigan at the same time in 1967.
  • Our mentor at Michigan was Prof. Frank E. (Bill) Richart, Jr.
  • Prof. Richart and his wife Betty were local family for us.
  • Betty Richart always referred to Prof. Richart’s students as family with Dick and me, among many others as Her Boys. Hence, Dick is my big brother.

• For many successful world renown people like Dick, his family and close personal friends do not know much of his professional life.
• Likewise, Dick’s professional colleagues probably do not know much about his personal life.
• My Eulogy will be for these two groups.

For Dick’s Family and personal friends: Here is Information about Dick’s professional career.

• Dick’s seminal contribution to the profession was in foundation vibrations:
  • It started with his painstaking theoretical and experimental work he did for his dissertation.
  • He identified two types of problems:
    • Active isolation where a machine on a foundation shakes the soil beneath it. For this case, he devised ingenious ways to minimize the vibrations to surrounding areas.
    • Passive Isolation where there is a need for a sensitive instrument to be free from vibrations caused by nearby sources such as traffic, machines, and earthquakes.
  • This work was extensively covered in a 1970 book called Vibrations of Soils and Foundations by F.E. Richart, J.R. Hall, Jr., and R.D. Woods.
    • F.E. Richart, Jr. also was the mentor of John R. Hall, Jr. who is now retired and living in Massachusetts. Jack is another big brother and we frequently communicate with each other.
    •  This book gained international acclaim, has been translated into several other languages and continues to be used to this day.
• It is not sufficient to do great things without sharing your knowledge with others, especially students.
  • Dick was an exceptional educator. He explained complicated technologies in a way that were easily understood.
  • One aspect of Dick’s teaching that all his students appreciate is how he got into the lab and out to the field with them. He was a master at making vibration measurements and shared that with others.
  • Dick also had many students who went on to exceptional careers in academia, industry, and government. The list is too numerous to mention here.
• For his prowess in the profession, Dick received many awards and honors among them:
  • Election to the National Academy of Engineering (the pinnacle honor available for engineers)
  • Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. (Only about 1,000 civil engineers have achieved this award since it was founded in 1857.)
• Against the advice of our mentor, F.E. Richart, both Dick and I spent parts of our careers in engineering administration, where Dick was the Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UM for seven years and I at Purdue for nine years.
• After 35 years at UM, Dick retired from UM, but continued his teaching at UM and at Notre Dame and consulting where he continued to serve the profession.

For Dick’s Professional Friends and Colleagues: Here is some information about Dick Woods personal life:

• Dick was born in Lansing Michigan to Andrew and Beryl Woods. His father was in the construction business and was responsible for the construction of many buildings on the Michigan State University campus.
• Dixie Lee Davis and Dick were high school sweethearts; she went on to get a nursing degree at MSU when Dick went to Notre Dame. They married after graduating.
• Dick went into the Marine Corps serving at Camp Pendleton, California.
• Dick and Dixie’s daughter Kathleen was born while Dick was in the Marines.
• He then came back to Notre Dame to get a MS Degree. That is when we first met.
• Afterwards, Dick and Dixie moved to New Mexico where Dick was associated with the U.S. Air Force Weapons Lab.
• That only lasted a short time when his teaching instincts kicked in and Dick, Dixie, and Kathy made the move from Albuquerque to Houghton Michigan where Dick was on the faculty at Michigan Tech.
  • Here I must tell the story of their move. Dick was an antique car buff. In Albuquerque they had a big hand-me-down Lincoln from his mother, a mid-1930’s Packard convertible, and a 1929 Chevrolet sedan. The Packard did not run, but the Chevvy did.
  • Dick drove the Lincoln pulling a trailer loaded with the Packard and Dixie followed behind with the Chevvy which could barely do more than 40 miles per hour. They made it with virtually no major problems.
• Dick realized that the future in academia was limited without a PhD degree so in 1964 the Woods family relocated to Ann Arbor for the PhD degree.
  • I was reunited with the Woods family.
    • For the UM football games, Dick got a spouse ticket for Dixie and I got a spouse ticket for Kathy.
    • Dick and Dixie greatly facilitated my courtship with Roxanne; Dick served as the lector at our wedding.
  • In 1967, Dick joined the faculty of Civil & Environ. Engrg. at UM and spent 35 years; Roxanne and I went to the U. of Kentucky in Lexington.
  • Kathy went to Michigan Tech for college and spent several summers in Eastern Kentucky transporting people with medical problems to Lexington for treatments. She was a frequent visitor at our house.
  • Kathy met and married Eric Laird and they had two children, Trevor and Jane. Eric was in the military and the family was shipped off to Panama. On the way to catch their ship, the Laird family spent a long weekend with us in Lexington.
  • Shortly after arriving in Panama, Kathy became ill. Dixie flew to attend to her and the two children. Kathy was flown to Walter Reed where she was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor.
  • Dick went to Maryland to bring Kathy back to Ann Arbor where she died several months later.
  • Dick and Dixie adopted and raised their two grandchildren Trevor and Jane.
  • In the 1970’s Dick and Dixie adopted two children Ceci and Karen who were loved and cared for as their own.
  • In 1971, Dick and Dixie became the Godparents to our daughter Julie.
  • The Woods and Drnevich families remained close over the years; visited with each other and traveled together.
  • In the mid 2000’s we shared Dick’s anguish as Dixie’s illness caused a decline in her health, but not her spirit. She died in 2012. Dick lost his wife, and we lost our big sister.
  • Dick and Dixie had an extensive extended family which you can read about in his obituary, including four great granddaughters and two great grandsons who had Dick wrapped around their little fingers.

Closing Notes

• Dick and Dixie Woods were exceptional, loving, and caring people who made a big difference in many people’s lives including ours.
• Dick, Dixie, and Kathy are now reunited as a family in heaven. We are blessed to be part of their lives.

Photos

Videos

Fr Brendan Walsh Final Blessing

Marine Honor Guard