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"And then what happened...?
Written by
Susan Houts, Marketing Director
Warren “Chiz” Woodrow was born in Camden NJ in the late 1940s and went on to live a life of adventure on the ground and in the air. A proud Navy Veteran, Chiz now lives at The Fountains where he enjoys reminiscing about his past, regaling his friends and caretakers with exciting stories of overseas flights, close calls, and true love.
This life of excitement started out normally enough: in school, Chiz earned good grades and joined the Navy Reserves, He was accepted into the Naval academy June 1953. “I spend my youth doing all of the things you are supposed to do” and graduated June 1957. He married his love Mary Margaret on graduation day, and the two remained married for 62 years.
From there things really took off: he went to Pensacola to learn how to fly, and from there he went to Corpus Christi, Texas. There he piloted both single and multi engine planes: he flew P2s (The Navy’s version of the Lockheed Electra) and flew operations out of Washington State then to Kodiak, Alaska.
Woodrow, “in a life akin to Top Gun”, he said, was recognized for his honorable service: he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and recorded over 30,000 hours of flying time, mostly as commander of the flight. His travels took him to the Philippines, Okinawa and beyond; he flew many notable VIP passengers including the Mayor of New York City and several Admirals.
The next leg of his journey took him from the skies to the classroom: he taught Weapons systems at the Naval Academy for two years and then went to Hawaii. He returned to the classroom years later, teaching and taking Engineering classes at FIT and served as a math adjunct at Brevard Community College, EFSC and "at almost every school in Brevard County and 5 or 6 colleges". He was also the president of the Brevard Mustang Club.
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