Remembered as long-time church deacon, mason & forefather of city's incorporation
Photos for Headline Surfer® /OAK HILL, Fla. -- Matthew Wood, Sr, a forefather of the city's incorporation and its first black policeman for 20 years, died Thursday.
He was 90 years old.
Wood was a long-time mason by trade, who, with his wife, Toreatha, raised their eight children in Volusia County's southern-most rural outpost, amid the backdrop of scenic Mosquito Lagoon with its gentle breezes off the water to temper the hot Florida sun.
In spite of the horrors of segregation and the ugliness of the Ku Klux Klan, which reared its ugly head from Jacksonville down into Maytown and Brevard County, Wood thrived in part by turning to his Christian faith as a parishioner and eldest deacon of St. Martha Missionary Baptist Church.
News of Woods' passing Friday after a sudden illness was met with sadness at Oak Hill City Hall by Mayor Douglas Gibson, a retired Florida state trooper, who laundry-listed his numerous achievements, though none more resonating to the mayor, than Wood's commitment to law and order.
In fact, Matthew Wood, Sr., who died three months shy of turning 91, outlasted the city's small police force, which was sacked in 2011, amid scandal and chaos led by a police chief who was a former cocaine addict.
Gibson, elected mayor in 2012, had been appointed as a commissioner just a few months before the cop shop was shuttered in favor of coverage from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. "Matthew Wood was Oak Hill's first black policeman and he did it for 20 years," said Gibson, himself 71, who was amazed at how full a life Wood lived, raising a large family. "What a milestone for our city."
Oak Hill Mayor Douglas Gibson, who is 71, and a retired state trooper, marvelled how Matthew Brown, Sr., who died Thursday at the age of 90, actually outlived the small police force that grew from two back in his heyday to to seven before it was disbanded in 2011, bcause of ongoing corruption and scandal, ld by a police chief who was a was a oneIn fact, Matthew Wood, Sr., who died three months shy of turning 91, outlasted the city's small police force, which was sacked in 2011, amid scandal and chaos led by a police chief who was a former cocaine addict.
That wasn't lost on Douglas Gibson, elected mayor in 2012, had been appointed as a commissioner just a few months before the cop shop was shuttered in favor of coverage from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.
"Matthew Wood was Oak Hill's first black policeman and he did it for 20 years," said Gibson, himself 71, who was amazed at how full a life Wood lived, raising a large family. "What a milestone for our city."
Julie Wood, the sixth of his eight children, remembered her father as tough, but fair in his treatment of his black 
brethren who ran afoul of the law.
"There were only two policemen when he started -- him and Chief Bev Wyatt," Wood, 57, recalled in an exclusive interview with Headline Surfer®, hours after her father's passing. "They ruled with (an) iron hand. (They) kept crime under control and were good, honest lawmen. No one really gave them problems and they weren't afraid of no one."
http://headlinesurfer.com/content/414222-thrived-spite-segregation-matt… reflected on her father's work ethic and commitment to his family, community and church.
"Daddy ran his masonry company, building houses all up and down the East Coast," she told Headline Surfer®, her voice cracking, emotions still very raw. "He worked hard to take care of his family. He had everyone's respect and he gave respect. He loved what was right. That was how he lived his life and raised his children."
Though somewhat painful to bring up, Julie Wood, an educated woman with two masters degrees, who has worked on grants for the city, recalled tough times for the family as a whole during segregation herself a witness to cross burnings when she was a little girl, even as her father was a cop.
Choking back tears in mourning his passing, Julie Wood added: "We were always scared, but daddy was strong. He really cared about everyone in Oak Hill."
Though somewhat painful to bring up, Julie Wood, an educated woman with two masters degrees, who has worked on grants for the city, recalled tough times for the family as a whole during segregation herself a witness to cross burnings when she was a little girl, even as her father was a cop.
Choking back tears in mourning his passing, Julie Wood added: "We were always scared, but daddy was strong. He really cared about everyone in Oak Hill."
Matthew Wood, Sr., 90, of Oak Hill, departed from this life on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015 at Bert Fish Medical Center, New Smyrna Beach. The second child to the late, Jim Wood, Sr. and Mildred Hood Wood; he was born in Oconee, Ga., on March 9, 1924.