Our beloved Lisa

My beloved wife Lisa Woody, MD, passed away on Monday, January 18,2010, in the Connecticut Hospice facility in Branford. It is fitting that she was released from further suffering on the day we celebrate Dr. King ("Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, I'm free at last.) Should readers of her blog need more information they can contact me, her late husband, at the e-mail address given below. I can also be reached via snail mail at my new address:
1414 Laurel Ave.
Apt. L403
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Phone 612-345-4518
Cell 210-422-4424

Thank you all for loving her. I miss her more than I can possibly say.

Robert O. McAlister
romca@aol.com

Obituary:

Lisa Ellen Woody, 51, of Guilford, beloved wife of Robert O. McAlister, passed away January 18, 2010 after a 22-month battle with lung cancer. She was born June 20, 1958 in Huntsville, AL, the daughter of Marta Medaris Smith of Sun City West, AZ and Charles Kenyon Woody of Annapolis, MD. Lisa was a 1976 graduate of Highland High School in Albuquerque, NM; received a BS in Chemistry from Southern Methodist University in 1979 and her MD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in 1983. She completed an Internal Medicine residency at the University of New Mexico Affiliated Hospitals in 1987 and practiced internal medicine for four years before changing her focus to acute care and occupational medicine. She obtained her MPH from the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1996 and her board certification in occupational medicine in 1997. She practiced at the William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, Connecticut from 1992 – 1998 and 2006 – 200_. She practiced at the Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois from 1998 – 2006. Lisa loved the mountains where she felt the grandeur and peace of nature were most profoundly expressed and where she was always able to achieve communion with her beloved brother, Bruce Kenyon Woody, both before and after his death. She loved micromanaging her children’s lives, quilts, quilting, baseball, and flowers of all kinds, wild and cultivated (but never indoors, where they inevitably became cat food). In addition to her husband, she is survived by her mother and stepfather Marta Medaris and Charles Smith of Sun City West, AZ; her father and stepmother Charles and Katherine Woody of Annapolis, MD; her children Lindsay Thomas (Jacob Kramer) of New York, NY, Emma Thomas of Ft. Collins, CO, Hannah Thomas of Guilford, CT and Philip Thomas of Guilford, CT; her stepchildren Isaac McAlister of Fort Stewart, GA, Ian (Resa) McAlister of San Antonio, TX and Kaitlin McAlister of Sisters, OR; her sister Faith Myers (Bruce Amos) of Albuquerque, NM; her brother Christopher Woody (Sheri) of Ft. Collins, CO; her stepbrothers Randall Smith (Kimberly) of Arvada, CO, Christopher Smith (Debbie) of Kingsland,TX, William Woody (Beth) of Missoula, MT, Murray Woody (Ruth) of Frankfurt, Germany, Greer Woody (Deborah) of Missoula, MT; her stepsisters Tanis Stewart (Brian) of Reston,VA and Merodie Hancock of Mt. Pleasant, MI; and with a combined 176 years of lifelong friendship, the four women who pushed, dragged, lifted and carried her through her life: Claudia Mora (Los Alamos, NM), Joanne Descher (St. Louis, MO), Lynn Laceky Ward (Dallas, TX) and Cynthia Fowler (Wake Forest, NC) as well as numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins. The family would like to thank the administration, employees, and medical staff of the William W. Backus hospital who were so supportive of Lisa during her illness. A celebration of her life will be held at St. David’s Episcopal Church, Rts. 12 & 214, Gales Ferry, CT on February 27 at 11 am with the Rev. David Cannon officiating. Friends of Lisa’s children may call on them at 1310 Alexander Dr. in Guilford on February 27 from 1 pm to 5 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the National Lung Cancer Partnership, 222 N. Midvale Rd, Suite 6, Madison, WI 53705 (or online at www.nationallungcancerpartnership.org) or to the Backus Foundation, 326 Washington St, Norwich, CT 06360 (or online at www.backushospital.org/foundation).