Rev. Wood was born December 3, 1903 in York, Livingston County. As a young man he traveled extensively around the country. In 1942 he returned to Rochester to work at Baush & Lomb, and continued to work until his retirement in 1969. Rev. Wood was a veteran of WWI, he passed away in 1992.
In the 1940s he studied at Divine Inspiritation to become a Spiritualist Minister, and was ordained in 1946. Two years later he founded the Spiritualist Church of Divine Love. Divine Love was located on Richmond St. off of East Main, and had about 50 members in the congregation, with 15-20 people attending on Sundays in it's later years.
In an interview with Rev. Wood from the Democrat and Chronicle in 1970 he stated that although his congregation is neither large, nor rich "all we're interested in is helping the poor."
At the time the congregation was working to raise money to send to Native Americans on a Hopi reservation in Arizona, he was inspired by his granddaughter who had been contributing through a children's foundation, when he and his wife visited the reservation in Arizona he said, "I was surprised they weren't playing games. then I realized many of them had nothing to play with, not even a ball."
The congregation took a collection to send what they could, particularly money, clothing, toys and books. Rev. Wood stated "I feel it my duty, and the duty of the churches to help people"
I was blessed to meet an individual who had attended the Spiritualist Church of Divine Love, she has unfortunately since passed away. When I asked her if she had known about the church she lit up, and told me that she had attended there when she was young with her mother. She remembered Rev. Wood, and said that he was a "deeply kind and very spiritual man."
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