Marvin wood biography
Marvin wood windows
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Marvin Wood remembered as exceptional man:
Former coach's character set an example for others
by Linda Mullen
It's been 45 years since the Milan High School basketball team sat on the front row bench of the state championship game beside its coach Marvin Wood.
On Saturday, seven of those same 1954 teammates again sat in the front row beside their coach, but this time it was on a church pew, not a players' bench.
And Wood's body was lying in a wooden casket.
When the casket was taken out of the First United Methodist Church, Gene White and Bobby Plump walked side-by-side behind it. Next came Roger Schroder, Ray Craft, Bob Engel, Rollin Cutter, Glen Butte and then-Milan Principal Cale Hudson.
Wood's wife of 51 years, Mary Lou, their daughter, Deidra, and three grandchildren followed the former Milan players out of the church so that the family would be first in the receiving line for the 500 people who attended Saturday's service.
Wood died of cancer Wednesday (