Willie Woodard celebrating with family and friends!

Black Wide-Awake honors Willie Woodard on his 100th birthday and wishes him so many more!

Mr. Woodard has deep Wilson County roots, tracing his paternal lineage to an enslaved woman named Priscilla Woodard born about 1795. Priscilla Woodard’s son James Woodard married Caroline Farmer about 1861. The couple registered their cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace in 1866, and their six children included Mintus Woodard, born about 1867. Mintus Woodard married Sarah Hayes on Christmas Eve 1901, and Mintus Woodard Jr. was second among their 13 children. Mintus Woodard Jr. married Mary Lillie Ward in 1922, and Willie Woodard arrived 21 September 1925.

Photo courtesy of Eric Woodard.