John Roger Kelcey Wood was born in 1931 in Capel-le-Ferne, near Folkestone, Kent, England. He passed away on September 7, 2026, in Abilene, Texas.

In John's early years, while his father, John Cyril Wood, was serving in Europe with the British Army, he and his mother, Alice Kate Wood, lived in Dover. In 1940, amid intense bombing and shelling along the Kent coast, they were evacuated to the village of Great Wishford.

Alice was a herbalist who believed in reincarnation and was sometimes referred to as a "white witch." Her unconventional beliefs, together with her outspoken involvement in grassroots politics, resulted in both her and John being socially ostracized during parts of his childhood.

In 1942, they moved to Bournemouth, where Alice became matron of the YMCA. John and his mother lived at the Y until the end of the war. As a boy, he spent countless hours roaming the countryside with his loyal whippet, catching hares, poaching pheasants, and developing a lifelong love of the English countryside.

At the age of twenty-one, John completed his National Service in Egypt and Jordan. He later worked as a junior officer aboard Royal Mail Line ships traveling to South America.

During the late 1950s and 1960s, John was involved in the developing Spanish tourist industry. Around this period, he also became briefly associated with Oswald Mosley's Union Movement. Initially attracted by its rhetoric of post-war British renewal, John came to deeply regret this chapter of his life and recognized that he did not ultimately share the movement's ideology or direction. In later years, he spoke of the association with embarrassment, regret, and introspection.

It was, however, through this period of his life that he met his first wife, Lovene Grundy. They were married from 1956 to 1970 and had three sons: Vincent, Nicholas, and Benjamin.

In 1968, John was hired as temporary Christmas staff in the men's sock department at Harrods in London. The store quickly recognized his potential and asked him to stay. Despite having received relatively little formal education because of the war, John was highly intelligent, self-taught, and exceptionally ambitious. His rather posh accent often gave the impression of a far more privileged upbringing than he had actually known, and he rose rapidly through the ranks of Harrods management, eventually becoming a director.

John was known for his tireless work ethic and for the genuine care he showed those who worked for him. He found particular satisfaction in mentoring younger members of staff and helping others advance in their careers.

Harrods provided John with a company flat on Hans Road, an arrangement that helped enable him and his second wife, Tina Small, whom he married in 1980, to purchase and lovingly restore a 17th-century barn in Hawkhurst, Kent.

Following his retirement from Harrods in 1987, John and Tina moved to Soper's Barn full-time. He continued dealing in engravings, maps, books, and antiques, often alongside his lifelong best friend, Sam. A passionate reader with an enduring fascination for history, John remained endlessly curious and intellectually active.

After Tina's death in 1998, John-who had never learned to drive-once again made walking an essential part of his daily life. He regularly walked through the countryside into town and to the pub, sometimes returning home with a pheasant or two in hand, a habit that recalled the mischievous country boy he had been decades earlier.

In 2000, John met Linda Puckett, and from their first meeting-and first cuddle-there was no turning back. Following a long-distance courtship, they married in 2003 beneath the McMahon's oak tree in West Texas.

John wholeheartedly embraced his new life in Abilene with his true love. Over the next two decades, John and Linda built a deeply loving partnership filled with travel, friendship, cooking, gardening, and John's continuing interest in the antique trade. They had an active social life, which included weekly dinners with the Connally's. He also delighted in Linda's passion for horses, frequently joining her and Simone at the barn and even helping muck stalls with quiet pride.

As John's health declined, Linda cared for him with extraordinary and unwavering devotion, making it possible for him to remain at home in familiar and loving surroundings for as long as possible. John was profoundly blessed by Linda's love, companionship, and care.

During the latter part of his time at home, Elizabeth of Visiting Angels was a true blessing, providing loving and dedicated care. He spent his final days in the Memory Lane community at Wisteria Place in Abilene, where the excellent staff treated him with great compassion, kindness, and dignity.

John was predeceased by his eldest son, Vincent John Wood, in 2017, and Vincent's wife, Nayela, in 2018.

He is survived by his beloved wife of 23 years, Linda Kay Wood; his son Nicholas Edward Wood, who resides in Cambodia with his wife, Davan; and his son Benjamin David Wood, who lives in both Texas and England, along with his wife, Theresa, whom John loved and embraced as a daughter from the moment they met.

John is also survived by his grandchildren: Zayed Wood and Jassim Wood of England; Jonah Wood and Lucas Wood of Cambodia; and Theo Castellano-Wood of Texas and Victoria Castellano-Wood of England.

He was also loved by Linda's sons, their wives, and their children. John shared a particularly special affection for Marlee, his daughter-in-law, whom he greatly admired and loved, and for her son, Aydon, who grew up knowing John as his grandfather and lovingly called him "Pa." These relationships, and the extended family John gained through Linda, brought him tremendous happiness, companionship, and fulfillment during his years in Abilene.

And he will undoubtedly be missed by two devoted members of the household: their King Charles Spaniel, Kelsey, and their cat, known simply and appropriately as "Cat."

John's life took him from the wartime coast of Kent to the deserts of Egypt and Jordan, across the Atlantic to South America, through London and the English countryside, and ultimately beneath the wide skies of West Texas. His was a life of reinvention, curiosity, hard work, mistakes acknowledged, loyalties cherished, books read, antiques discovered, countryside walked, and, above all, people loved.

He will be deeply missed, and always loved.