Glenn E. “Silk” Woodward of East Liverpool, a retired Air Force Master Sergeant, passed away on June 1, 2026 at the age of 92. He was the son of the late George Allen and Mildred Snyder Woodward.
He was born in Wellsville, OH on January 12, 1934. While growing up in Wellsville, he was known to his many friends as “Silk”, a nickname that has stuck with him throughout the years. Silk graduated from Wellsville High School with the class of 1951. He worked about a year at the Sterling China Pottery and about two at the former Crucible Steel before joining the Air Force in 1954. Excluding the time he served in the military, he lived most of his life in the area and is Protestant by faith.
He served in the Air Force during the Korean and Vietnam wars, and retired in 1974 after serving 20 years of dedicated service. His duties as a flight engineer took him to almost all of our states including Alaska and he had a 15 month tour of duty in Labrador and spent two years in Scotland. He then served two 1 year tours in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and 4 Air Medals while participating in over 190 combat missions in 1966-1967 and 1971-1972. Soon after being assigned back in the states, he was sent to Guam for 6 months temporary duty. He then decided it was time to end his career.
He returned to the area after retiring from the Air Force in 1974 and worked 4 years at the Ferro Corporation in East Liverpool. It was there he met the love of his life, Josephine. They married and continued to live in East Liverpool to this day. In 1979 he was selected for a Civil Service position in the East Liverpool City Water Department. In only a few years he obtained a Class 1,2,&3 water license. He held nearly every position in the department including the City Chemist position and his last 6 years as Superintendent before retiring in 1994, after 15 years of service.
He was very dedicated in all of his endeavors and was never a stranger in all of his surroundings. He loved spending time at Mountaineer Park whenever he could. He remembered the “good ole days” when it was Waterford Park and it was packed full of people every day the horses would run. He has been a member of the Air Force Sergeants Association since 1972, the Public Employees REtirees, Inc. since 1994, and a member the American Legion Post #70 in Wellsville since 1974.
He is survived by: wife of over 40 years, Josephine Gritton Woodward; a son, Ralph Glenn Woodward, of Colorado Springs; a grandson, Aarron Woodward, of Colorado Springs; two step-daughters, Julie English and Leslie Latshaw, of East Liverpool; one step-grandson, Nathan Latshaw Jr, of East Liverpool; one sister, Clara Barber of Orange Park, FL; and one brother, Gerald (Jo Ann) Woodward, of Wellsville.
Along with his parents, he was preceded in death by two sisters: Doris Baker and Patricia Cataldo, and four brothers: Edgar, Donald, Richard, and Thomas.
Private family burial was held in Riverview Cemetery where Silk was accorded full military honors. The MacLean Chapel of Care Funeral & Cremation in Wellsville were entrusted with arrangements.
