Naugatuck, Conn.—Father Bruce Michael Wood, a priest of the Diocese of Amarillo, passed away June 22. He was 80 years old.
Mass was celebrated June 26, Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Waterbury, Conn., Monsignor John Bevins, presiding. Burial was in new St. Joseph Cemetery, Waterbury.
Bruce Michael Wood was born April 5, 1937, in Waterbury, the son of Bruce and Berthe Winslow Wood. He graduated from Crosby High School in Waterbury and attended Wagner College in New York and the University of North Carolina.
A convert, he converted to Catholicism upon his Baptism on June 16, 1962. Prior to his ordination to the priesthood, his work experience had been in secondary and college education in the fields of English, Speech and Drama.
In 1978, Wood came to Lubbock to work in parish ministry and served in parishes and schools there. After discerning a call to the priesthood, he completed seminary training at Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio. He was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Amarillo on June 7, 1984 by then-Bishop Leroy T. Matthiesen at St. Laurence Cathedral (now St. Laurence Church), Amarillo.
After serving at a number of parishes in the Diocese of Amarillo, Father Wood also served as an Air Force Chaplain in San Antonio and as a priest in a number of parishes throughout Texas, Vermont and Connecticut. Following his retirement, he served as a part time associate at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Naugatuck and the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Waterbury.
Father Wood was preceded in death by his parents; and a sister, Barbara Kervorkian.
Survivors include two nieces, Linda Waldo and Donna Hadzaga, both of Naugatuck.