After a life defined by service to her family and her faith, Sister Ann Aylett Wood, widow of Elder Ray H. Wood, died Friday, March 15, 2024, in Bountiful, Utah, at the age of 90.
Sister Wood served on the Primary general board and at the side of her husband during his tenure as a General Authority Seventy. She was preceded in death by her husband, who died May 22, 2022.
A consummate musician and teacher, she frequently utilized her talents to bless the lives of those around her. As a classically trained pianist, she taught piano lessons to a variety of young people wherever the Woods lived.
In a devotional address at BYU–Idaho in February 2003, Elder Wood recalled how when the two were serving in southern Africa, his wife began teaching the rudiments and foundations of how to play the keyboard and to lead music. Gradually, choristers and accompanists began blessing the congregation with hymns.
It was music, her obituary notes, that brought the Woods together. While attending the University of Utah, they met during a radio broadcast while singing in their respective musical groups.
“In those days,” Sister Wood explained in a Church News article at the time her husband was called as a general authority, “we only had radio shows. His Sigma Chi fraternity and my sorority were asked to sing together on the radio.”
They were married on Aug. 8, 1955, in the Logan Utah Temple. She taught school while Elder Wood completed law school and then focused on raising their six children — four daughters and two sons.
When their children were young, the Woods moved from an affluent neighborhood to a farm in a small town in central California. They put in an orchard and took care of 280 rabbits, five pigs, three cows, 100 chickens, three ducks, a dog and a cat.
“Their home was a sanctuary of safety from the world and a refuge where love and trust existed,” her obituary states.
Named Dolores after her mother, Sister Wood was always known by her middle name, Ann. She was born on Sept. 19, 1933, to Kelvin William Aylett and Dolores Lillian Reading and grew up in Salt Lake City.
Although her parents were good and loving, they were not active in the Church, and she was baptized at age 12 after the efforts of diligent home teachers.
Through the years, Sister Wood served in a variety of capacities within the Church, including as a president and counselor in ward and stake Primary, Young Women and Relief Society presidencies; as a teacher and as a hostess at the Church Office Building.
She also served as a docent for the Utah Symphony Guild and as a volunteer at Primary Children’s Hospital.
She is survived by her children: Laurie Ann (Mark) Ruben, Lizabeth (Charles) Walton, Lisa Wood, Heather Lynne (Lance) Remund, Ray G. Wood and Bradley Paul (Sharee) Wood; 14 grandchildren; and 30 great-grandchildren.
Private family services will be held and interment will be at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.
