John Alexander Woodcock

When John Woodcock lost his brave battle against cancer, Bloomington lost a devoted and award-winning professor, an active volunteer, a fine photographer with many prizes and shows to his credit, a loving and loved father, brother, friend, and husband. John helped raise a family of six children including: Stephen Ames (Lana), Alison Woodcock (Michael), Jaime Vermillion, Rob Bola, Stephen Andrew Bola (Chiharu) -- and their children, Stella Ames, Eva Bransfield, Sage, Oliver, and Sylvan Hutchens, Sarah, Rick, Louis, and Rae Bola-Tsakakura, Amelia, Anna, and Thomas Vermillion. He is also survived by his brother, William Woodcock (Linda) and his stepsister Merrill Carrington (Tim). His mother Marian Woodcock and father William Woodcock (stepmother Lenore “Fluff” Woodcock) predeceased him. Born in 1940, John grew up on Long Island, New York where, as a child, he hunted for arrowheads in potato fields, life-guarded and learned about the finer points of sailing. As a teen, he attended Millbrook School for three years, where he was elected class president all three years. John graduated from Amherst College and returned to Millbrook School to teach English and coach sports. He was drafted by the Army during the Vietnam War. He entered the Army Language School where he studied Russian. He and his first wife, Joan Ames, were sent to Northern Japan where John spent three years decoding Russian transmissions. He returned to the United States and entered graduate school in English Literature at SUNY at Stony Brook. From there, he visited several universities as teaching options, but wisely chose the University Department of English, surprising his East Coast family. As a result of crossdisciplinary interests in humanities and the sciences, John offered courses or lectures in the Departments of Physics, Biology, Psychology, Political Science, and the History and Philosophy of Science; in the Schools of Law, Public and Environmental Affairs, Education and Music; and in the Honors College, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Poynter Center, and the IU Medical Center. He served for two decades on the Individualized Major Program and taught courses in both Scientific and Spiritual Autobiography. He was awarded the coveted Frederic Bachman Lieber Memorial Award for distinguished teaching. John was also the author of a Choose Your Own Adventure for children entitled Trouble in Space. After reading Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, John took a one-year sabbatical to work for the fledgling Environmental Defense Fund which he continued to support in its effective work related to energy, oceans, air quality, and climate stability. During the 1990’s, he was an editor of the widely syndicated National Public Radio series A Moment of Science. As a volunteer, John created a photography introduction for homeless individuals in cooperation with Bloom magazine, Peggy Woodcock, and Pictura (now FAR) Gallery. He taught autobiography courses at Emeriti House and the Unitarian Universalist Church, where he also sang in the choir. He was a pro bono photographer for many organizations and charities including Flashes of Hope and IU Health Bloomington Hospice. Years earlier, as president of Hospice, he brought the program into IU Health System. He gave many years of service to the IU Health Ethics, Palliative Care, and Hospice Care committees. In 1990, John married his second wife, Peggy Johnson Woodcock. Their many interests in common included art, photography, literature, crosswords and traveling. Together they visited over twelve countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Since part of their family lives in Japan, they were fortunate to visit Nara, Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Fukui. Their Fukui family includes Hideharu and Akemi Tsakakura, and Hideharu’s mother Tamiko, and their daughter Chisato and family. During their time in Egypt in 2011 during the Arab Spring Uprisings, John took documentary photographs of the first graffiti art on the streets of Cairo. These photos formed the basis of an exhibit that traveled to museums across the U. S. Another of John’s images traveled to South America to serve as a backdrop of performances of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. All of John’s family and friends loved his puns, Dad jokes, honesty, kindness, dependability, and Peggy loved his nightly readings from fiction. He will be missed so much by so many. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington or IU Health Bloomington Hospice.