John Charles Woodward, born July 26, 1866, was reared on a farm in Butts County, Georgia, near the village of Jenkinsburg. Born soon after the close of the Civil War in a Georgia over which the shadow of Appromattox was heavy, he had to endure all of the inconveniences and privations which were characteristic of an age of reconstruction.

The Butts County farm was the place where the Woodward family worked. Their farm work was supplemented with the commercial area of storekeeping and the industrial one of mechanics and carriage building. These supplemental areas helped the Woodward family economically during the early days of reconstruction and John Charles' childhood.

At a very young age, he was working in the fields and in the shops. He learned early in his boyhood the practical side of life. He had a hunger for learning and reading, and he read any book that he could get.

Schools in those days, however, were scarce and poor. Even where a school was available, it was likely that it would teach religious beliefs first with the three 'R's" being considered secondary. The school terms were short and irregular, and teachers and equipment were of low standards. In spite of these handicaps, he gained the rudiments of an education and, what was more, the determination to become a man.

In 1884, after the family had moved to Griffin, Georgia, young John Charles yearned for formal higher education. At eighteen years of age, he enrolled in the North Georgia Agricultural College at Dahlonega, Georgia. He wanted a school which offered military training and North Georgia College was the best accredited military college in the state. It was this training, perhaps, that initiated his lifelong devotion to military training.

His record at Dahlonega was outstanding in military and in academics. He was the winner of the prestigious Frank P. Rice Award for Latin scholarships. During his senior year, he was senior captain of the Cadet Batallion. He was graduated in 1888 as valedictorian and with first honors.

Following graduation, he studied law for awhile with an attorney in Griffin, Georgia. He did not, however, take the bar; instead, he wanted to fulfill his long dream of teaching. His appetite had already been whetted because during his college years he taught in Georgia Common Country Schools during his summer vacations.

In 1889, he became an instructor and the Commandant of Cadets at a little college in Gainesville, Georgia. He resigned that position, however, after one term for a more promising post at the Jackson Institute at Jackson, Georgia. After one year, he accepted the Vice-Presidency of Gordon Institute at Barnesville, Georgia.

While at Gordon Institute, he married Miss Lucile Castleberry of Dawsonville, Georgia. She was a graduate of the College at Gainesville and of the Lucy Cobb Institute at Athens. Lucile would become an integral part of Georgia Military Academy. During her earlier years, she would have eight children, serve as Vice- President of the school, and until her death, be a loving companion for her husband.

John Charles was twenty-six years of age in 1892 when he resigned the vice- presidency of Gordon Institute to become President of Middle Georgia Military and Agricultural College in Milledgeville, Georgia. Here he was able to continue with his love of the military; for along with the presidency, he held the position of Commandant of Cadets. Because of his success with the military, much as it had been at Gordon, the United States War Department in Washington, D.C. assigned a regular army officer to that post.

Tragedy marked the beginning of even greater success for young President Woodward while at Milledgeville. His college was located in the old State Capitol Building. The building was destroyed completely by fire, but the young president brought together the trustees of the college along with influential citizens of Milledgeville, the governor, and other important men of the state. After a short period of time, they had rebuilt the old state capitol site into a structure better suited for college purposes. In addition, he brought about the building of an additionl four-story structure for a cadet barracks.

Soon after the rebuilding of Middle Georgia Military and Agricultural College, the school's name was changed to Georgia Military College and became one of the leading institutions of higher education in the South.

It was while at the Milledgeville College that the Woodwards gave birth to their son Douglas. Their first child, a boy, died at birth. Douglas, however, would go on to graduate from Georgia Military Academy, distinguish himself in the United States Navy after being graduated from the United States Naval Academy, return to the Academy for several years of service, including acting president at the death of Colonel Woodward, and retire from the Navy as an admiral.

Success followed success with each year and with each position that John Charles held; however, his great dream was still ahead of him - a dream of a school for younger men and of an educational process of high ideals comparing in scope and efficiency with the leading schools of Europe and America. He dreamed of a great preparatory school for boys and younger men which would invite only "clean, manly boys who would apply themselves assidiously, live up to high standards of moral character and fix noble ends for their achievement."

He dreamed of a Georgia Military Academy that was to be.

With this dream ever present in his mind, Mr. Woodward resigned his presidency at Georgia Military College in 1896 and entered the University of Chicago as a candidate for the A.B. degree, specializing in philosophy and education. His record at Chicago was brilliant, which helped to establish his appointment in 1898, after receiving the A.B. degree, as Superintendent of Schools in Newnan, Georgia.

While in Chicago, the Woodwards had their third child, C.D. Like his older brother, C.D. would attend Georgia Military Academy, serve his country during World War I, and later work with Georgia Military Academy in several positions. In particular, he was instrumental in the operation of the school's summer home at Camp Highland Lake in North Carolina.

Mr. Woodward's three years as Superintendent of Newnan Schools helped to establish him as one of the forward-looking educators in the state. He was the first educator in Georgia to establish courses in home economics for girls and manual military training for boys. He was instrumental in organizing the Georgia Teachers' Association. Thinking beyond elementary and secondary schools, he made a resolution calling upon the trustees of the University of Georgia to admit both men and women to the University for summer school.

College Park is pleasantly situated, eight miles southwest of Atlanta, upon the Atlanta & West Point Railroad, and two miles from the Central Railroad at two miles from the Central Railroad at East Point. It may be reached from nearly all points in Georgia and adjoining States by day travel almost without change of cars. Planted on a high, sandy ridge, sixty feet above Atlanta, and thirteen hundred feet above the sea, buoyed by an invigorating climate, swept by fresh breezes, and blessed with pure water, cold and crystal clear, the location is ideal for the enjoyment of physical vigor and mental health. The country is undulating and picturesque. Around the schools, as a nucleus, wealthy and cultivated citizens have built homes. With almost hourly trains to Atlanta, making the ride in twenty-five minutes at five-cent commutation fares, this rural residence place blends in beautiful harmony the advantages of city and country; on the one hand being in easy grasp of the literary, musical, social, professional and religious attractions of a metropolis, its superior facilities and inspiring life, and on the other hand, furnishing exemption from artificial restraints and temptations to frivolous dissipation, and affording the rest, refreshment and seclusion that are conducive to study and to the development of the character of the young.

Excerpt from “The Woodward Story”, by Robert Ballentine, published 1990 by Jostens Printing and Publishing; content used with permission of the copyright holder, Woodward Academy Inc., College Park, Georgia, USA.