Mr. Milton Gray Woolard, age 87, a resident of 263 Betsy Elbow Road, Washington, died Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018, at Vidant Beaufort Hospital.

A funeral service will be held 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018, at Alligood Church of God officiated by Pastor Phillip Jethro, Pastor Gary Bateman and Mike Caton. Burial will follow in the Woolard Family Cemetery. His grandsons, Carl Gurganus, Gregory Gurganus, Brandon Gurganus, William Gurganus, Daniel Woolard and Josh Hardy will serve as pallbearers. Richard Allen Woolard and Johnnie Gray Woolard will serve honorary pallbearers.

Mr. Milton was born in Beaufort County on June 1, 1931, son of the late John Gray Woolard and Sallie “Annie” Roberson Woolard. On March 10, 1954, he married the former Shirley Marie Woolard, who survives. He was a farmer, logger and retired from the City of Washington as a mower operator.

Mr. Milton was a strong-willed man who loved his family and went to great lengths to show how important hard work, values and respect, was a way of life. He loved sharing food from his large garden and cooking for his special nieces and nephews. After a severe heart attack in 1985, he dedicated his life to the Lord and became strong Christian. He was a member of Rosemary Church of Christ for 30 some years and then attended Alligood Church of God in his later years.

Although he was a quiet man, he was full of knowledge and once you got him talking, he loved to share old stories. His family loved listening to “the good ole days” as he would call it.

Mr. Milton loved in his own way, carpentry work and inventing things out of old scrap metal and “junk” laying around, that he collected throughout many years.

In addition to his wife, Shirley Woolard, of the home; he is survived by his four daughters, Juanita Gurganus (Kelly), of Washington; Sylvia Gurganus (Earl), of Bath; Emiley Stearns (Kevin), of Bath, and Donna Woolard, of Washington; seven grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and one expected in March 2019. He is preceded in death by his parents; his daughter, Thelma Ann Woolard; two brothers, Richard Woolard and Ervin Woolard; and two sisters, Mildred Woolard and Lillie Bell Woolard.

The family will receive friends from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Friday at Paul Funeral Home & Crematory in Washington and other times at the home.

Condolences may be addressed to the family by visiting www.paulfuneralhome.com.