About Us

Born and reared in Eden, NC, Elwood earned Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees as well as the Performers’ Certificate while studying with the famed professor of trombone, Emory Remington, at the Eastman School of Music, a school of the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. Given the nickname, Woody, in college, he did learn to sail on Lake Ontario once the ice melted. After stints teaching at Murray State College in Kentucky and free-lancing in New York, he moved to San Francisco where he was a member of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra for ten years, performed with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, and taught music at Stanford University for thirteen years. Marrying his wife, Jade, who joined him in San Francisco in 1984, they moved in 1991 to Atlanta, living there for twenty five years, Jade continuing her career with AT&T then IBM and Woody operating Williams Music Publishing Co. They joined the Atlanta Sail and Power Squadron (ASPS) after a good friend at Wrightsville Beach, who witnessed a particularly Keystone-Kops-like docking episode with their first boat, gently suggested they “might benefit from some boater education.” Indeed they did benefit, and Woody began taking classes and getting involved. He completed Coastal BOC, went through the chairs and became Commander of ASPS in 2015 and achieved the Senior Navigator designation after they moved to Wilmington in 2016 and joined CFSPS. They really enjoyed cruising aboard Escapade, their DeFever 44 Offshore Cruiser, when they attempted America’s Great Loop which was brought to a halt by the Covid epidemic. But, they hope to buy another boat and continue enjoying time on the water. In addition to boating, they enjoy travel, reading, cooking and many friendships and family visits here in Wilmington.