Victor David Wood: 1923-2007

Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007 | 6:48 a.m.

Victor Wood was crusading for computers in Clark County schools when Microsoft founder Bill Gates was a 13-year-old student trying to master an old Teletype terminal.

It was in the days long before the Internet, laptops and iPods - a time even before bulky punch-card computers helped put a man on the moon. Yet, 40 years ago, Wood foresaw the day when such devices would be practical, beneficial and commonplace in Southern Nevada classrooms.

Victor David Wood, who served for 30 years in the Clark County School District as a teacher, counselor and administrator, died Sunday in North Ogden, Utah. He was 84.

Services will be at a.m. Friday in Ogden. Interment will be in Myers Ogden Mortuary's Evergreen Memorial Park.

As a member of the National Advisory Board on Computers in Education, then-Rancho High Vice Principal Wood represented Southern Nevada on technology issues at a national convention of school principals in 1968.

He addressed the problems with - and the benefits of - students having access to computers and briefed educators on advances that could improve school programs.

Today, every student, from elementary grades through high school, has access to computers in classrooms or in computer labs, a School District spokeswoman said.

Wood attended the University of Delaware, earning a bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics and a master's degree in education. He completed his doctoral studies in education administration at the University of Southern California.

He taught for 49 years, including a year in Delaware and three in Rupert, Idaho, before coming to Las Vegas in 1955, where he was assigned to Las Vegas High and John C. Fremont Junior High in addition to Rancho High. Wood left Las Vegas in 1985 and for 15 years taught at Applied Technology College in Ogden, retiring in 2000.

Twice Wood served as president of Phi Delta Kappa, an international honorary fraternity for men in education.

In his free time, Wood built grandfather clocks and kitchen cabinets, created gold and silver jewelry and wrote music, poetry and stories. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served in the Bishopric and the High Priest Group Leadership. He also was a longtime choir director.

Wood is survived by his wife, Bernadean Tomlinson Wood ; daughters Chrisi Lynne Wood of Ogden and Nancy Leigh Griffin of Las Vegas; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.