Celebration of the Life of Warren Woolf

July 27, 2013

Warren Woolf We gathered at Oakhurst Baptist Church on July 27 to celebrate Warren's life and to remember his example to us all. The picture at left is from his 90th birthday celebration with the Georgia Tech BSU Alumni group at Hiawassee, GA on October 30, 2011. We had also enjoyed fellowship with him this spring at the Gudger's.

Personal tribute to Warren and Sue

For many of us who were active in the Baptist Student Union at Georgia Tech in that time period about 50 years ago, our words of tribute to Warren and Sue contain strong elements of our own personal testimonies. Coming to Georgia Tech out of high school was a major change period and the ministry of Warren and Sue there catalyzed the development of a close Christian community that has certainly changed my whole life since. Having grown up on a farm in a very rural area of Arkansas, my testimony is that an early life of seeing of kittens and calves born and seeds sprouting birthed an early reverence for the Creator that made all that possible. But it was not until my senior year in high school that I came face-to-face with the moral dilemmas that caused so many of my peers to veer off into drugs, unwed pregnancies, and basically crash-and-burn lifestyles. That brought me to a deep conviction and a commitment to Christ. So I came to Georgia Tech as a new Christian, deeply troubled with doubts about whether I had "done it right" in my commitment to Christ. It was in the close community of the BSU that I came to deal with the fact that it was not what I had done, but what Christ had done that was the crucial issue. In looking back I am still amazed at the role of Warren in being the catalyst for a close Christian fellowship that many of you know has continued with gatherings and sharing among that group of students and their wives for over fifty years now. And Brenda and I find ourselves always working to produce some resemblance of that "just and intimate community" that we first found under Warren's and Sue's leadership at Georgia Tech. So thanks, Warren and Sue, for teaching and guiding us in the nature of Christian community.

We express our gratitude to Bill, Susan and David and the entire extended Woolf family for the beautiful musical service of tribute and for their hospitality in the reception that followed. This is a collection of some photos that mostly include those persons involved with Warren and Sue in the Georgia Tech Baptist Student Union as we pay tribute to our beloved mentor.

We greet Sue as she arrives at Oakhurst. Ron and Linda Jones, Brenda Nave, Alice and Andy Blake.

Gathering around Pitts Hughes as she arrives. R. B. Coulter extreme left. Kneeling Rogers Redding, then Brenda Nave, Leland Strange, Ron Jones.

Family members and long-time friend and colleague Don Hammonds participated in the beautiful musical worship service.

Sue with the line of friends and family in the church fellowship hall. Mims and Donna behind Sue. Alice and Andy Blake at right in line.

Alice and Andy Blake greet Sue. In line are Betty Fields, Nancy Bonds, Tommy Bonds, Henry Fields, Judy Bonds.

Surrounding Sue are Brenda Nave, Norman and Barbara Petty, Rod Nave, Donna Woolf.

Sue with Norman Petty, Rogers Redding, Donna Woolf, Leland Strange.

Norman Petty, Rogers Redding, Leland Strange with Sue.

Sue with Andy and Alice Blake from Griffin.

Tommy and Judy Bonds, Henry Fields. Gary Bechdol at right.

We enjoyed the nice reception with the folks from Oakhurst.

Duncan Sinclair came up for the Memorial, as well as Linda and Ron Jones from Louisville.

The line continued with Carol and Walt McKinney, with Jim and Gail Green and Bobbie Boal at right.

It was good to see Ron Purvis and to have a bit of fellowship with him.

Norman Petty, Brenda, Sam Shelton, Ron Purvis visit.

We appreciated the time of honoring Warren and Sue and it brought a lot of old friends together. R B Coulter, Norman Petty, Aubrey Bush, Sam Shelton, Barbara Petty, Nancy Bonds, Ron Purvis.