"Colonel Woody" has flown his last mission.

Longtime New Mexico resident Larry Wood of Albuquerque passed away Dec. 2. He was 90 years old.

The 30-year career officer in the United States Air Force, Vietnam veteran, beloved husband and father of two children - and a diehard fan of the St. Louis Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys, New Mexican cuisine and hot-and-spicy food, in general - succumbed to natural causes at the Raymond G. Murphy Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Albuquerque.

Born Larry Warren Wood on Oct. 19, 1935, in Fort Smith, Ark., to George Henry Wood and Viola Ruth Traster Wood, with a mission in early life to fly airplanes, he joined the Air Force ROTC at the University of Arkansas and never looked back.

From there, he and Verna Lou Lloyd - his sweetheart at Fort Smith High School and new bride - hit the road, first visiting Albuquerque in 1958 on their honeymoon trip along America's Route 66, on their way to Stead Air Force Base at Reno, Nev., for his first assignment as a pilot.

"He knew from early teen years that he wanted to fly," writes Verna. "Time in ROTC gave him the idea of flying as a career of patriotic and important missions and led him to forego his studies of engineering and sign on.

"Driving west through Tijeras Canyon, seeing the city's bright lights at dusk and digesting a bit of New Mexico scenery, we decided living in New Mexico was our goal, and nothing altered our minds. Many trips over the years, back and forth across the country on new assignments, only increased our determination."

Larry continued to rise through the ranks as a pilot, from 2nd Lieutenant to Captain, in a distinguished career that included the Distinguished Flying Cross; the Air Force Commendation Medal; and two Meritorious Service Medals. Multi-year assignments included stints commanding B-52s over the Arctic for the Strategic Air Command (SAC) out of Wurtsmith AFB in Michigan and multi-day refueling missions over North America and the Pacific Ocean in B-47s out of McLellen AFB in California.

Along the way, he commanded both the Air Force's largest plane, the B-52, and its smallest, the tiny, single-engine O-1 "bird dog" reconnaissance craft, among several others, accumulating more than 5,000 official hours of flight time. Larry famously referred to his year flying the O-1 on daily missions over the Vietnamese jungle and reporting enemy locations as the greatest year of his flying career.

After the Vietnam War, Larry returned home to complete his Bachelor of Science Degree, with distinction, as well a Master of Science Degree, both in Electrical Engineering, from the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio, - where he often tutored fellow students who later credited him with their passing certain classes. That led him to assignments as a Major and Lt. Colonel at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirtland AFB in New Mexico; the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington D.C.; and the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, Calif. - before retiring from military service in 1984.

"Colonel Woody's'" military commendations in a "distinguished career in the service of his country reflecting great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force" include:

• The Distinguished Flying Cross by the United States of America for his "Extraordinary Achievement in Aerial Flight" in Vietnam Feb. 4, 1968-Feb. 27, 1969.

• The Air Force Commendation Medal from McClellan AFB, Calif., for his "outstanding airmanship, superiority performance and professional dedication in the execution of a broad spectrum of duties and responsibilities which contributed immeasurably to the successful accomplishment of of the Air Weather Service global mission."

• A Meritorious Service Medal by the Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, NM, for his "outstanding professional skill, leadership, and ceaseless effort resulting in vast a long-lasting improvements in the capability of the Air Force to ensure the survivability of weapon systems to nuclear effects."

• A Meritorious Service Medal by the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., "for his insight, thoroughness, and aggressive follow-up that had a positive, far-reaching impact on a multitude of Air Force test programs across a wide variety of aeronautical disciplines of aircraft performance, flying qualities, propulsion, flight controls and flight simulation."

Larry and Verna Wood, meanwhile, had found their dream home in Albuquerque's Four Hills Village and put down deep roots, always insisting the city be anchor for their family. There were long months over those years of being apart during war and other far-off assignments, but the ties formed by their children - and Verna's career with the Albuquerque Public Library - were very strong and the family never wavered in their love for New Mexico.

Stephen Lloyd Wood, their son, became well known locally in Little League and Babe Ruth baseball - and in bicycle racing circles, ultimately winning two U.S. National Championships and being inducted into the Albuquerque Sports Hall of Fame. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications & Journalism, cum laude, from the University of New Mexico and enjoyed a career as a news journalist - and ski instructor - before retiring in Vail, Colo, with his wife, Maria Cristina Valderrama Gonzalez.

"My father was a hero to me as a kid, and he supported me throughout my youth, sports efforts and decades-long pursuit of an education. We spent thousands of hours watching baseball and football games, as well as studying math and crafting all kinds of 'projects,'" writes Stephen. "He was a great mathematician and computer whiz, a natural Mr. Fix-It, and teacher. Above all, he was a generous soul."

Lisa Deanne Wood Ruggles, their daughter, earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting at UNM, as well. She and her husband, Bryan Lang Ruggles, live nearby in Sandia Park.

"I would not have passed a single college math class without my dad. His retiring before I started college was wonderful for our relationship. He wasn't around much when I was growing up - he was logging all those flight hours, keeping the world safe during the Cold War and studying voraciously for his own degrees - but did he ever make up for it when he retired," Lisa writes. "After tutoring his kids in college math, he became the IT person in our family, supplying Apple - and only Apple - computers to us all, and went on to tutor his granddaughter in all things math and Mac. He loved to talk about, and eat, any and all spicy foods, drink wine, play word games and spend hours on his beloved Apple computers. Was he perfect? Ha Ha! Was he the perfect father and grandfather for us? Yes.

"Thank you, Dad. We always felt loved, no matter where in the world you were."

The Ruggles' daughter, Sydney Shawn Ruggles - the Woods' only grandchild - was the sparkle of Larry's late life. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics at Fort Lewis College in 2021, and is engaged to be married to Jon Matthew Fox. They live in Bayfield, Colo.

"My grandfather, who I knew as 'Gumpy,' was a kind and loving mathematician who spent countless hours working through trigonometry homework with me at the kitchen table," Sydney writes. "We would finish the evening off with a bowl of popcorn and the Dick Van Dyke show. Years before algebra or trig we spent time in the office playing computer games or watching Cardinals and Cowboys games. Mixed in there were plenty of trips to McDonald's for fries and many coffees from the big blue Air Force mug."

Larry also is survived by his sister, Elizabeth "Betty" Jane Wood Freeman of Conway, Ark., and her sons Robert Alan Freeman of Chesapeake, Va., and David Russell Freeman of Vilonia, Ark.

Following cremation, Lt. Colonel Larry "Woody" Wood will be put to rest in a private family ceremony at the Santa Fe National Cemetery with full military honors.