Bath, NH Florence Byrd (Gooch) Woods, 103, a long time resident of Bath, died on Thursday, December 27, 2012, at the Grafton County Nursing Home in North Haverhill, NH with her family at her side. She was born in Brooklyn, NY, August 18, 1909, the daughter of Camille D. and C. Elma (Byrd) Gooch. When she was eighteen months old, the family moved to Dunellen, NJ, where her father designed and built a new house on Fourth Street. This was just a couple of blocks from the Green Brook and the mountain beyond, a favorite place for Florence and her father to take a Sunday stroll, up the very road traversed by George Washington and his rag-tag troops during the Revolutionary War. In Dunellen, Florence fell in love with nature: here was a rural town where her father knew the stars, and her mother, the birds. The family moved to Hackensack, NJ in 1919. Florence entered Fairmount School there, and graduated from Hackensack High School in June 1927. She received a scholarship to Mount Holyoke College, where she majored in astronomy, graduating in 1931. She received her Master s from Columbia University in 1937. Her working years included a year as a research assistant at the American Optical Company in Southbridge, MA; teaching in Hackensack in the Broadway Evening School, and at the Essie Olive Abeel private school; a year in the biology department at John B. Stetson University in Deland, FL; a year studying zoology at Columbia University; and a half year in the biology department of Simmons College in Boston. For several years, she worked at the Lisbon Shoe Shop and taught a year at Haverhill Academy and at Lincoln High School. In June 1938, she came to Bath for a two weeks vacation as a boarder at the Minot Farm. Here, she met Harry Whitney Woods. They were married on September 28, 1940, at the Minot Farm. Florence had many friends with whom she kept in touch over the years. When she turned 100 in 2009, her family and friends gave her a wonderful party at the Bath Congregational Church, where she was a member, and served as organist for several years. She also belonged to Phi Beta Kappa, the American Association of Variable Star Observers, the Pine Grove Grange, and the North Country Chorus. Her letter To the Class of 2000 AD made her the NH winner in the Healthy Aging Letter-writing contest sponsored by the United States Postal Service and the Educational Television Network, Inc. She was predeceased by her husband, H. Whitney Woods on July 26, 1994; a son Thomas Whitney Woods on November 9, 2004; her parents; four siblings; all her aunts, uncles and first cousins; and a granddaughter, Karen M. Gordon on August 12, 2011. Survivors include her children Cindy Woods Clark of Barrington, NH and Harry Byrd Woods and his wife, Beth of Bath, NH; her daughter-in-law Patsy Woods of Bath; seven grandchildren; twelve great grandchildren; four step-grandchildren; and eleven step great grandchildren; and many cousins. There will be no calling hours. A memorial service will be on Saturday, January 5, 2013, at 1:00 PM, at Ricker Funeral Home, 1 Birch Street, Woodsville, NH with Rev. Thomas Peters from the Bath Congregational Church officiating. Burial will be in the spring at the Swiftwater Cemetery, Bath, NH.