----- Received from James Hill/Omaha/NPS on 12/30/2004 09:46 AM -----

I do not know how well you may have known Barbara Woods of St. Louis, but I thought I should share this word of her passing. Please distribute as you feel appropriate. I first saw this yesterday afternoon on my return from visiting family over the holidays. The piece was sent from NPS Washington.

Regards,

jh

James Hill
Midwest Regional Coordinator
National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom

National Park Service
601 Riverfront Drive
Omaha, NE 68102
(402) 661-1590 (voice)
(402) 661-1591 (Fax)

------------------------------

Subject: Dr. Barbara M. Woods, Educational Activist and Founder of National Organization to Preserve the History of the Underground Railroad, Passes Away

Dr. Barbara M. Woods, an educational activist who founded a national
organization to preserve the legacy of the Underground Railroad, passed away December 23, 2004, at the age of 59, in St. Louis, Missouri.

Dr. Woods, who was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, founded The Friends of the Underground Railroad, Inc., a national organization in 2004, as a result of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program Act Public Law 105-203, signed into law by President Clinton in 1998. The act was aimed at preserving, commemorating, and educating the public on the
sites, routes, stories, and history of the Underground Railroad. The act created the only program mandated by the U.S. Congress to preserve the legacy of the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a movement in the Western Hemisphere (North and South America and the Caribbean) from the early 19th century on to help bondspersons escape from slavery to freedom.

Dr. Woods and her colleagues foresaw the need for a nationwide friends group to continuously support the legacy of the Underground Railroad, and drew representatives from Underground Railroad sites, facilities, and programs across the nation to form the friends group. The group actively engages in seeking private donors and congressional assistance in its efforts to preserve the legacy of the Underground Railroad.

Funeral Arrangements for Dr. Woods are below.

Funeral Services
11:00 am, Thursday, December 30, 2004
Cote Presbyterian Church
4673 Labadie
Saint Louis, MO 63115
Phone: 314-381-2770

Interment
Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery
2900 Sheridan Road
Saint Louis, MO 63125
Phone: (314) 260-8691
website: www.cem.va.gov/nchp/jeffersonbarracks.htm

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent in memory of Barbara M. Woods to:

The Black World History Museum
2505 St. Louis Avenue
Saint Louis, MO 63106
Phone: 314-241-7057

Cards and other expressions of sympathy may be sent to the family at:

Woods Family
4544 Westminster Place
Saint Louis, MO 63108

Dr. Barbara Woods will be missed by those involved in the Underground
Railroad program throughout the nation.