Nicholas Michael Wood

Savannah

Nicholas M. Wood, age 36 passed away Wednesday, August 16, 2017 at Memorial University Medical Center. On Wednesday, August 16, 2017, Nicholas Michael “Nick” Wood went to be with the spirits who were so much a part of his life.  Nick was born on May 23, 1981, the son of Larry L. Wood and Mickey Womack Wood in Visalia, CA.  Despite many challenges, Nick managed to live an exciting and very full life in his too-brief thirty-six years among the living. It is said in this way because his family, friends and loved ones knew that Nick was also “in tune” with what is termed the paranormal world. Nick was known in Savannah, GA as the “Savannah Storyteller” a trademarked title bestowed upon him by his co-workers at the Sorrel Weed House. He found his calling there, applying his skills as a storyteller, helping people understand the history of Savannah and how spirit activity was the result of this sometimes violent history. As a teenager, Nick helped form a band called Tripwire which eventually sold an original song to Sony Music. In 1997, Nick began working in stage production for the Hanford Fox Theater where smaller venue concerts were held for many famous artists such as B.B. King, Vince Gill and Willie Nelson. Later he was part of a trio that formed “PWR” (Eric Parsons, Nick Wood and Terry Rider) playing rock and blues. One of Nick’s bucket list accomplishments, between bouts of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, in early 2008, was getting his pilots license. At the age of 27, Nick set an unofficial record when he passed all of his tests and certifications in 7 days. Bud Cushing, his instructor, dubbed Nick the “Seven Day Wonder.”  Nick wrote about his experience and love for aviation which was subsequently printed in Contact and Sport Pilot magazines. At one point he was part-owner in a sport plane. When the plane was sold due the the passing of the majority owner, Nick took his share and purchased a Porsche 914 that he then restored. After his second bout with cancer in 2008, Nick married the love of his life and staunchest cheerleader, Retanda “Tanda” Chi. In 2014 they were blessed with a son, Desmond “Desi” Michael Wood, despite having been told it would be almost impossible to have children. In 2011, Nick was hired as a guitar technician to go on a national tour with the rock band “Livan” opening for Peter Murphy. On a subsequent national tour with Livan opening for Alice Cooper, Nick was Stage Manager. On this tour, Nick discovered Savannah when the tour bus broke down there. The people he met and worked with on tour, upon learning his story, dubbed him “Badass Lucky Nick.” Later in 2011, Nick contracted Valley Fever and moved to Savannah, Georgia. Nick found employment and friends at Portman’s Music Store. When he and Tanda found out she was expecting, Nick was able to get a second job as a tour guide at the Sorrel Weed House. This eventually developed into helping manage the Sorrel House. What a lot of people did not know about Nick, but his immediate family did, was that Nick had encounters with ghosts and spirits practically everywhere he lived. He did not like these encounters at first, forcing him out of his first apartment, but as they became more common to him, he learned to accept them and not fear them.

Nick is survived by his wife and son, parents in Olympia, WA, brother Christopher M. Wood in Hanford, CA, sisters Alicia N. Giger of Whitewater, CO, Kimberly M. Brogan of Visalia, CA and Tamara F.Stephens of Fresno, CA, three nephews and two nieces.

No formal memorial services are planned, however several informal celebrations of Nick’s life will be held.

Low Country Cremation and Burial is serving the Wood family.