It is with sadness that NRMCA notes the recent death of Jerry Woods, a longtime industry advocate who served with distinction at both the Iowa and Illinois ready mixed concrete associations along with the Portland Cement Association (PCA). Woods, 78, died November 11 at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.

 

Gerald A. Woods was born in Clinton, IA and married Brenda J. Ware in November 1978. He was first employed by O. Jorgensen and Sons Construction and then by Ringland Johnson Construction in Clinton, IA, followed by PCA in Chicago. Woods also worked for the Illinois Ready Mixed Concrete Association in Aurora and, finally, the Iowa Ready Mixed Concrete Association in Ankeny where he retired as the director of training and outreach. The Iowa association established a scholarship in his name in 2014 for his continued efforts to promote the concrete trades in Iowa high schools and community colleges.

 

He was a member of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers and Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons' International Association. Survivors include his wife Brenda; four children, Kelly Renee Woods of Hernando, MS; Shawn Patrick Woods of Clinton, IA; Karla (Larry) Boldt of Waterman, IL and Kristina (Shawn) Bailey of Geneseo, IL; two grandchildren and four brothers. He was preceded in death by his parents; one sister, Patricia Riordan, and two brothers, Thomas and David Woods.

 

A Mass of Christian Burial was scheduled for today, November 16, at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Fulton, IL Following Cremation Rites, interment will be at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Clinton, IA.

 

"Jerry Woods' work ethic and 'teaching by doing' made him loved and respected by all he met," said NRMCA Senior Vice President, Local Paving, Jon Hansen, a former colleague at the Iowa Ready Mixed Concrete Association. "Whether with trowel in hand in front of an audience of concrete finishers or with projector and screen in front of an audience of architects and engineers, he will be remembered him for his knowledge and passion for concrete and the industry he loved. The words 'can’t do' were not in his vocabulary. He was a unique personality in the concrete construction industry and has left behind a legacy of work, and people he has influenced, for generations to come."