Eddie Jasper Woodall

Eddie Jasper Woodall, 62, died peacefully in his sleep on Friday, January 27 th 2023 at his home in Waxhaw, North Carolina from complications stemming from an automobile accident in 1985. Eddie was born in Smithfield North Carolina and moved twenty-one times before graduating high school. He was enrolled in JROTC and ROTC and attended college at Appalachian State University studying political science with plans to become a career military
man, following his father and older brother. He was commissioned as an officer in the Army. He took some time away from school to work in demolition and raise money.

While working in Knoxville he met his future wife Lynn Ridley. He received the call in 1984 to attend officer training school and moved to Fort Benning Georgia. While in the military he was a backseat passenger involved in a head-on collision in 1985. The injuries he sustained would go on to
become part of a case study which congress used to mandate three-point shoulder restraint seatbelts in back seats of cars. It was passed into law in 1986. Of the 30 cases used, Ed was the only one who survived and was not a paraplegic. During his miraculous recovery he leaned heavily on his faith and connection with God. He witnessed to hospital staff and decided early on
that his recovery was in God’s hands. Lynn remained supportive during his 13 month recovery. 

After being medically retired from the military he went back to school at the University of Tennessee where he graduated and became a lifelong Volunteers football fan. He married Lynn in 1988 and they moved to Charlotte, NC, in the same year. The two joined Carmel Baptist Church where they would be lifelong members. He worked as an entrepreneur for several years and started a family. He and his wife were blessed with two sons William and Benjamin. Ed served as a church deacon, elder, and Sunday school teacher. He volunteered as a children’s camp counselor and participated in several church mission trips. He taught a Sunday night youth group where he continued to share his faith and made many life-long connections. Ed continued to study the bible throughout his life and was known for his wit, and his love of Hawaiian shirts and pork BBQ.

He was preceded in death by his father, William Ray Woodall. He is survived by his Wife, Lynn Ridley Woodall, his sons William Joseph Woodall and Benjamin Marion Woodall, his mother Ruth Starling Woodall, his brother William Sandy Woodall, He is also survived by numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins along with a niece and a nephew.