Mary Iona Yawn Woodard, 86, of Tifton died Thursday, August 22, 2013, at the Rehabilitation Services of South Georgia. Funeral services will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 25, 2013, in the Chapel of Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals. Rev. Lowell Brock, Rev. Keith Burch and Rev. Paul Anderson will officiate with burial to follow at Landmark Baptist Church Cemetery in Irwin County. Dewey Sexton, John Wilson, Keith Peacock, Joe Griner, Roy Cooper and John Bennett will serve as pallbearers. The family will receive friends on Saturday, August 24, 2013, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Chapel of Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals.
Mrs. Woodard was born on August 24, 1926 in Worth County and was the daughter of Joe Yawn and Minnie Brooks Yawn, both deceased. She was also preceded in death by her husband, Thomas Franklin Woodard, who she married on January 8, 1944; two sons, Thomas Woodard and Carl Woodard; three brothers, Henry Laster, Leonard Laster and J. T. Yawn; four sisters, Ruby Sumner, Thelma Horn, Annie Mae Sumner and Willie Marchant; one granddaughter, Angela Jones; and three infant grandchildren. She was a homemaker and a member of Sonrise Chapel Church of God Prophecy in Tifton.
Mrs. Woodard is survived by one son, Curtis Woodard of Omega; four daughters and three sons-in-law, Margaret Phillips of Tifton, Brenda and Joe Drawdy of Tifton, Jeanette and Narce Avery of Sylvester and Patricia and Harris Rowe of Tifton; one sister, Mamie Lee Pate of Chula; 18 grandchildren, Ricky Woodard, Billy Woodard, Selinda Daughtry, Chad Erskine, Mark Erskine, Kenny Phillips, Selina Burney, Melinda Sexton, Alice Sullivan, Joyce Bennett, Conley Avery, Craig Avery, Darlene Bower, Kim Rowe, Carol Sullivan, Chris Overstreet, Shelly Dasher and Doug Drawdy; 41 great-grandchildren; 26 great-great grandchildren; and a special friend, Shirley Walker.
The family would like to thank Rehabilitation Services of South Georgia and Bethany Hospice for their tender loving care of Mrs. Woodard.