Painting of longtime Cooper Center supporter Woodward unveiled in her honor

May 9—There may be no better way to pay tribute to someone who meant so much to a center for the arts than to remember her through art itself.

That's the honor that the John Sherman Cooper Community Arts Center paid on Tuesday to the late Teri Woodward, a longtime volunteer and board member for the downtown Somerset facility.

A portrait of Woodward was unveiled at a ceremony honoring her life and works, painted and donated to the Cooper Center by resident artist Drue Winsett.

Cooper Center Board Chair Chrystal Wilson gave a brief introduction at the gathering in the main hall before revealing the painting.

"Even though most of us knew her for only a short time, she made a tremendous impact on us all," said Wilson. "She was a phenomenal woman who dedicated herself to the local arts community."

The oil painting by Winsett is 16 inches by 20 inches and will hang on the north side of the Cooper Center's lobby.

Woodward's husband, Roy, was at the ceremony on Tuesday and spoke to the Commonwealth Journal about his wife's efforts to both support and create local arts.

"When they first started to make an arts center here (as the Carnegie Center back around 2008), Teri volunteered, and came down and helped paint (the main) room and get all the rest of the rooms ready for occupation by artists," said Roy Woodward. "When it was all done, and people started occupying it, she became a docent here, and started giving tours.

"She learned all about the building and knew that it had started out as a post office and then changed to a library and had gone through a couple of different lives," he continued. "She really loved the building. She thought that this was worth saving for the City of Somerset."

Roy said that Teri continued to work at the Carnegie for several years, trying to "help run the place," and after a while, she was bitten by the art bug herself and became interested in stained glass.

"She started her own stained glass shop, where she'd do repairs and had several of her own pieces," he said. "She called herself 'the Glassy Lady.' ... Flowers were her big thing. She really liked that. One of her more spectacular pieces in my opinion is of a peacock and all the colorful feathers. I have that hanging in one of my windows."

Some of her pieces were displayed at the Cooper Center, he noted. She also did radio spots to promote the facility, and helped out elsewhere in the community as well.

"She volunteered and did a lot of the bookkeeping and helped out at Veterans Essentials (thrift store), and she was also on the board of that," said Roy Woodward.

Teri Woodward joined her husband in the real estate business, and became a board member for the Cooper, serving as secretary until her passing back on January 5 at age 66 following a heart attack.

"As she got into real estate, she had less and less time (for her stained glass art) and obviously now we look back, her health was declining, we didn't know it, and she had less and less time to work on it," he said.

Cooper Center Director Deb Stringer called Tuesday's event a "celebration of life" for Teri Woodward.

"She is sorely missed," said Stringer. "Any time I had questions or concerns about anything, about the Cooper or beyond that, she had the answer for me."

Stringer called Winsett's portrait an "amazing job ... it's so lifelike." She noted that he donated his time and materials for the project.

She added, "When he brought that down, he said, 'I'm done with it' and he turned it around and showed me, it brought tears to my eyes."

Roy Woodward noted what an honor it was for Teri's portrait to have a permanent place in the building for which she worked so tirelessly.

"Teri spent so much of her time here and really was into the arts scene and liked to see it flourish here. She promoted it as much as she could," he said. "... She really invested a lot of her time. So this is a great honor, that they're recognizing the time and effort that she put into the building. It was all at her absolute pleasure. She loved doing it."