Sunday evenings at the Woodward home, especially in the earlier days, were calm times, restful times. The family and friends usually gathered, ending a busy week of school and anticipating the start of a new one. Colonel Woodward, when he lived in "The Retreat" could often be seen sitting in a rocking chair on the large front porch chatting with cadets, teachers, and visitors.

August 27, 1939 was one of those Sundays. The regular school year on the main campus would not open until September 11. The campus, however, was ready for the school's fortieth year. The faculty had been employed, and classrooms were ready; and, in anticipation of a sizable increase in enrollment, several new buildings had been constructed. Rugby Hall was remodeled and an addition made on the rear to house the overflow of cadets. A new gymnasium, designed for the younger boys and for the band, was near completion.

Colonel Woodward, typical of his total involvement and dedication to the operation of the school, had just returned from a successful session at the school's summer camp at Highland Lake. Following supper, he drove to the airport on Virginia Avenue to deliver the G.M.A. mail. When he returned to the campus, he retired to his room, having stated that he did not feel too well. A short time later he was stricken by a fatal heart attack.

He had often said that he wanted to "die in harness," to be active to the end. His wish was, indeed, granted. He literally died "with his boots on" at 9:45 p.m. as he rested in his room.

The news of Colonel Woodward's death brought tributes from friends and educators throughout the state.

John Temple Graves II, a graduate of 1906 who had been named a member of the Governing Board two years earlier, wrote: "John Charles Woodward believed in life's excellencies. Most of all he believed in human beings. He gave his talent, dream and will to those educations which truly nurture and lead forth, and the gift is passing from generation to generation even though the giver is missing now from mortality's roll. He knew that the spirit of man is capable of qualities and products not made to die. He knew it because the qualities were in his own spirit, and we the living may know it for the products of that spirit which pass each year from the Georgia Military Academy he founded and served."

The Atlanta Journal editorialized: "The death of Colonel John Charles Woodward, founder of the Georgia Military Academy at College Park and its president for the past thirty-nine years, closes a career rich in service and in honor. For almost half a century he devoted his talents to that peculiarly important sphere of education which lies between the elementary school and the college. The Duke of Wellington is said to have remarked that the battle of Waterloo was won on the cricket fields of Eton and Harrow. Certain it is that the life-battles of hundreds of men now distinguished have been won largely through the training and influence which their adolescent years received from Colonel Woodward."

Mrs. Hattie McMullen, a friend of the Woodwards and the school's matron since the early days of the school, commented: "Colonel Woodward has vanished from sight and yet he lives, because his work will live on to brighten and bless the world. His influence has been felt for good in many ways. His devotion to his family and his friends was a great inspiration, and his life has left a deep imprint which will always be felt and appreciated. In his daily contacts he had high regard for his friends and respected their opinions, supported their good efforts, and gave unstintingly toward the creation of a wholesome and effective spirit of morality and truth in all circles."

Colonel John W. West, teacher, commandant, and principal of the Junior School said: "In the passing of Colonel John Charles Woodward, not only the Georgia Military Academy but also the State of Georgia and the South have sustained an irreparable loss. For fifty years he has been an outstanding figure in the educational life of the state and of the nation."

"There are many points in common between the lives of Dr. Thomas Arnold, Headmaster of Rugby, and Colonel John Charles Woodward, founder and president of Georgia Military Academy. Arnold affected the whole educational system of England more than any man of his day and his influence upon Rugby was profound and lasting. Colonel Woodward in his establishment of the Association of Military Schools and Colleges of which, by right, he became first president affected the policy of this type of education more profoundly than any educator of his day. The association had made military schools and colleges responsive to the needs of the Fort and has secured appointments to West Point and Annapolis for their Honor Graduates. Unlike Arnold who came to a long established school, Colonel Woodward founded his school. There was nothing beyond a desire of a few citizens for a school when he came to College Park. A few years ago he gave G.M.A. to a board of trustees. He did not give the school, he gave himself. For as long as one stone stands upon another or one old boy is left alive, Georgia Military Academy will remain the product of the life and labors of this one man."

"Emerson was right when he declared, 'An institution is the lengthened shadow of a man.' It seems to me that the flow of this man's personality and life into the school has given it three great watchwords that every one of the sons of the school must sense. These words, Honor, Faith, Service, were dominant notes in his life. High honor, unquestioning faith and unrelenting service he gave to Georgia Military Academy. These three words can and should become to every cadet what Honor, Duty, Country, mean to the gray-clad cadets of West Point. If the cadet corps of this school can but translate these watchwords of its founder into action, what a mighty contribution they would make to the wealth and well-being of the world."

Dr. Richard C. Gresham, class of 1907, and one of the first members of the Governing Board, conducted the funeral services. He said, in part: "The greatest school story ever written is Tom Brown's School Days. You remember the end of the story. Tom, an Oxford University graduate, is on a lonely island off Scotland on a fishing holiday. Late one evening one of his companions in a two weeks old paper comes across the news of the death of Dr. Arnold, Tom's headmaster at Rugby. Tom leaves his friends and hurries back to Rugby. Like Tom Brown, the news of the death of my old school president reached me on a fishing holiday on a lonely island off the South Carolina coast. Unlike Tom, who reached Rugby after his schoolmaster was buried, it is my sad privilege to stand here and speak the last words of remembrance and gratitude before we go to West View."

"His influence upon the relations between Cuba and this country made for friendliness and amity. In that island republic he was always given the honors of his rank. But what is more, he had the sincere regard and respect of the leaders of Cuba."

"In his heart was a plan which he did not live to see fulfilled. It was the vision of the establishment of a Pan-American Academy to which would come the flower of the youth of both Americas. Supported by the various governments of the Western World its cost and endowment would not equal the price of a battle cruiser and it would be a mighty weapon for peace and understanding between all the new world. Some day this school may become a fact. If it does it will be because of this man who first caught the vision of its possibility..."

Colonel Woodward had, in July, celebrated his seventy-third birthday. He was buried beside his beloved wife, partner and co-founder of Georgia Military Academy, in West View Cemetery in West End.

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.