Geraldine Bowser Wood, 89; cofounded West Philly funeral home

Geraldine Bowser Wood was a loving mother, a longtime Philadelphia schoolteacher, and cofounder with her husband of the Wood Funeral Home in West Philadelphia.

Mrs. Wood died Friday, Jan. 13, at Mercy Philadelphia Hospital after a two-year battle with cancer, her daughter said. She was 89 and lived in Wynnefield.

"She was a very warm and caring mother," said Wanda A. Wood, one of her two daughters. "She rarely raised her voice."

Mrs. Wood was born Sept. 25, 1927, the younger of two children of Dr. Percy I. Bowser, a dentist, and his wife, Maude Dorothy Page Bowser. The family lived in West Philadelphia.

Her father was a prominent dentist at a time of few black dentists, Wanda Wood said.

After attending Philadephia public schools, Mrs. Wood attended West Virgina State University before transferring to Cheyney University, where she received a bachelor's degree. She earned a master's degree from Temple University, her family said.

Mrs. Wood worked in early childhood education and also taught fourth grade at Dunlap Elementary, the school she had attended as a child.

"She enjoyed teaching and her students loved her," Wanda Wood said.

Mrs. Wood was known for her kindness and generosity, said Cynthia E. Wood, her older daughter.

"She was giving, to a fault," Cynthia Wood said. "She had a tenacious loyalty, especially to her church."

For years, Mrs. Wood was active at the historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, in Overbrook Farms, serving in the Acolytes Mothers Guild, the Auxiliary Vestry, the Sisterhood Guild, and the Angel Tree Ministry.

"My mother would stop whatever she was doing, even if she was tired, to go help someone," Cynthia Wood said.

She was a mentor to children and adults whom she met at church.

Through her work with the Angel Tree Ministry, Mrs. Wood provided support to children of prisoners. She also took time to regularly write letters to people in prison, her daughter said.

Mrs. Wood met her husband of 64 years, Clarence M. Wood, when they were children. Their mothers had become friends when they attended school together in Virginia.

When Clarence Wood came to Philadelphia to attend mortuary school in 1951, he got in touch with the Bowser family. He and Mrs. Wood renewed their friendship, which led to marriage in 1952.

In 1959, Mrs. Wood helped her husband start the Clarence M. Wood Funeral Home, now called Wood Funeral Home. She worked with him for a time before focusing on her teaching career.

Mrs. Wood was active in a number of social organizations, including the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the Carats, and Club Carousel.

"We learned everything we are because of Mom," Cynthia Wood said. "How to be a gracious host, and the proper etiquette for doing anything."

She loved music, ranging from classical to pop, and enjoyed gourmet cooking, traveling, playing bridge, and taking a cruise.

In addition to her husband and daughters, Mrs. Wood is survived by two grandsons and nieces and nephews.

Viewings will be from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, at Wood Funeral Home, 5537-39 W. Girard Ave., and from 9 to 9:30 a.m. and from 10:15 to 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, 6361 Lancaster Ave.

A celebration of life and a Requiem Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, at the church.

Interment will be at Ivy Hill Cemetery, 1201 Easton Road.

@ValerieRussDN