At the death of Colonel Woodward, his oldest son, Douglas, who was vice president of the school, became acting president. He had graduated from G.M.A. in 1912 and later from the United States Naval Academy. He was in World War I and, while on an expedition up into the Mermansk area during the Russian Revolution, earned the Navy Cross. After World War I, he resigned his commission and returned to G.M.A. His role was that of quartermaster. He ran the dining hall and looked after the buildings and grounds.

Douglas Woodward, not being an academician and seeing the United States involved in World War II, resigned from G.M.A. and went back on active duty with the Navy. He held the rank of commander at the time and was named the captain of the U.S.S. Pontiac in the North Atlantic.

Following this command, he was placed in charge of the Naval Supply School in Athens, Georgia, and later he was reassigned to the Pacific Fleet as a full captain with command of the U.S.S. Windsor, a troop transport. After the war, having earned the Navy Cross, he retired as an admiral.

The second son, C.D. Woodward, graduated from Georgia Military Academy in 1914. He attended the United States Naval Academy; but, with the outbreak of World War I, he entered the Marine Corps. After the war, he returned to Georgia Military Academy in a role at the Carolina Military and Naval Academy. When Colonel Woodward died, C.D. remained at Camp Highland Lake and remained active on the Academy's Governing Board until he became active in real estate in Florida.

The one person who, perhaps, played as important a role in the history of Georgia Military Academy as its three presidents was Colonel Woodward's oldest daughter, Mildred. After marrying William Roe Brewster in 1920, they both returned to the College Park campus - he to assist Colonel Woodward in teaching and in administration, she to assume many roles which lasted for many years.

At the time of their return to the school, the two younger daughters of Colonel Woodward, Grace and Marjorie, were students at Agnes Scott College. Mrs. Woodward at the time was quite sickly and remained that way from the early twenties until her death in 1932. It became Mildred's responsibility to care for the Woodward family in addition to her own children.

To accomplish all that was needed, Colonel Brewster and Mildred moved into the "Retreat" with Colonel Woodward. Mildred took on all of the school duties once performed by her mother. She became Colonel Woodward's official hostess and, for several years, planned, prepared, and executed all of the duties associated with social hostess of the school.

In addition, she became Colonel Woodward's chauffeur, driving him to Kiwanis meetings in Atlanta and to other events that required the car. She also drove him around the state when he was active in scouting for new students.

After the death of Colonel Woodward, Colonel Brewster assumed the presidency and Mildred continued as official hostess in addition to serving as a governing board member and running the bookstore.

Many people would agree today that if there were one person responsible for keeping Georgia Military Academy vibrant, alive, and growing, and perhaps keeping Colonel Brewster constantly on the go, especially during his early years as president, it was Mildred Brewster, the great conciliator, a truly Southern lady.

Ruth, the second daughter of Colonel Woodward, married Colonel Brewster's roommate at West Point, C.M. McQuarrie who was assigned to Georgia Military Academy by the United States War Department as the Professor of Military Science and Tactics in the middle nineteen thirties. He and Ruth served the Academy in many capacities; and during the Korean War, he was promoted to the rank of general and was placed in command of Fort Jackson. He and Ruth later retired to Florida.

The third daughter, Marjorie, married C.P.B. Harris, one of G.M.A.'s new teachers, about 1935. Marjorie had graduated from Agnes Scott College and had assumed some duties at the Academy as a secretary and later as a member of the Governing Board.

"Bud" Harris had come to the Academy in the early nineteen thirties as a football coach and a teacher of commercial subjects. When Marjorie died in the mid-50's, her husband was vice president of Georgia Military Academy. He remained at the school for some time until he was called upon to go to Gordon Military College to help prevent the school from becoming defunct. He later married Mrs. Daniel of College Park, went to Shorter college as the Director of Fund Raising, and remained there until his death.

The youngest daughter of Colonel Woodard is Grace. After graduating from Agnes Scott College in 1932, she served for twelve years as secretary for Colonel Woodward and then later for Colonel Brewster. Grace married William Palmour of College Park whose father was the first teacher added to the G.M.A. faculty in 1900. Both Grace and William were active members of the Governing Board, and Mr. Palmour has continued as an emeritus board member.

All of the children of Colonel Woodward, along with their spouses, were named members of the Governing Board when Colonel Woodward deeded the school to a self-perpetuating board in 1932. The heirs of Colonel Woodward had been, before 1932, and continued to be after 1932, and after his death, involved in one way or another with the operation of the school.

The Woodward family members were not only board members, teachers, and administrators, but also originators, owners, and operators of several school concessions. Douglas Woodward, for example, started in the early years, a concession called the Grill or Snack Bar. Other concessions included such things as a laundry, a bookstore, cadets' boots, class rings, etc. These were concessions which were provided for the benefit of the students. The children of Colonel Woodward, their spouses, and some administrators organized the concessions, and operated them, and what profits they made belonged to them.

When the originators and operators of these concessions began to leave the school for other positions or for retirement, a great controversy began to arise concerning the concessions. Many of the original concession-owners maintained that the concession should continue and that they should receive the profits. Colonel Brewster, however, maintained that the concessions which were operating on the G.M.A. campus would have to be given up when the owners left the school. He insisted that General McQuarrie, for example, when he retired, had to divest himself of his concession. When Bud Harris went to Gordon, he had to divest himself of his interests.

All of this "family" controversy caused many problems and perhaps created many sleepless nights for Colonel Brewster. Actually, the concessions were not completely taken in by the school until Captain Brewster's presidency in the early nineteen sixties. It was then that Captain Brewster insisted that Georgia Military Academy was an eleemosynary institution and that all of the "concessions" should become part of the school.

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.