Joan Wood saw equality in everyone, and she spent a lifetime conveying that message.
She mentored young women to help them identify career goals, continue their education and pursue their ambitions. She chatted with residents of a homeless shelter as if they were lifelong friends. And she was a champion for arts and the written word.
She was an advocate for non-profit groups throughout the country–including the Chicago Community Trust, the National Council of Negro Women and the St. Louis Urban League, where she met her husband, Clarence N. Wood, chairman of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations.
Mrs. Wood, 64, principal of Miller Wood Associates, a business consulting firm for non-profit groups, died of lung cancer Friday, April 8, in her Bronzeville home.
Joan Carole Miller was born in Jefferson City, Mo., and grew up on the campus of Lincoln University, a historically black college. Her father was a professor of political science and forensic studies.
Mrs. Wood was one of the first African-Americans to attend Jefferson City Senior High School, and it was there that she took an interest in journalism. She was a member of the National Honor Society and later attended Wellesley College in Massachusetts and received a degree in political science.
She bonded with the eight other African-Americans in the all-girls campus and had fond memories of pledging in the Delta Sigma Theta sorority and eating peppermint ice cream with chocolate sauce in the school cafeteria. Many of those friendships lasted the rest of her life.
She received her master’s degree in photojournalism at the University of Pennsylvania.
In the early 1960s, Mrs. Wood began her career as an aide to U.S. Sen. Edward Long of Missouri. She later moved on to the St. Louis Urban League. There, she met her husband, whom she married in August 1970.
“She was a gentle, caring spirit,” her husband said. “Always an angel in the background.”
Mrs. Wood continued her career at the Cleveland Foundation, then as executive director of the Settlement House Association of America in New York. Mrs. Wood also was chairman of the board at the Renaissance Collaborative, an organization in Bronzeville that provides support housing for homeless adults.
“She was very witty and always had a smile,” said Pat Abrams, executive director for the collaborative. “And she was very down-to-earth. She can go between kings and queens and relate easily to them.”
Mrs. Wood took part in organizations such as the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust and the Chicago Chamber Musicians. She enjoyed cooking, reading and frequenting local theater.
“My mother was one of the most dignified, intelligent but humble people I’ve ever met,” said her daughter, Carole. “She cared so much about the community and the people and had such great style and grace.”
Other survivors include a brother, James Erroll Miller II.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Church of St. Edmund, King & Martyr, 6105 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago.
