Vetta Kay Welch Woodard has officially gone up to the Spirit in the Sky. She made her exit, passing with peace and no regrets on August 17, 2025.


Born March 26, 1957, Vetta spent 68 glorious, rebellious, and occasionally inappropriate years teaching us how to live unapologetically, speak our minds, steal cherries from the top of the cheesecake, savor sunsets, and to never-ever- settle for boring company or leave a good piece of driftwood behind.


As the firstborn, she was the kind of sister who would slip behind a hedge while walking to school in the morning, so she and Judy could help each other tape the hems of their skirts up (mini skirts were all the rage, but Grandma Eva wasn't having it). She took charge of Paul by wrestling him to the floor and sitting on top of him when he defied her as the designated boss of him. She picked David up at the bus station after a 10 hour ride, only to take the dirt roads home, turning the music up and having a grand time laughing as they went. She helped Kelly tag a building we won't discuss here, then hilariously overthought the evidence trail.


Vetta was lucky enough to grow up in a time before everyone had an evidence gathering device in their hand - a time when whereabouts could be denied, adventures took place in the moment, and a person's exploits could be selectively edited in real time. It was a golden age without surveillance, when Alva High had a smokers lounge for students and friends gathered on the wall across from Dairy Queen.


Vetta loved a few men in her life, but Donny was the one she chose to stick it out with, and he held her hand until the end. As did her lifelong best friends, partners in crime, and confidants, Stephanie Smola and Sharie Ainsworth.


She counted her children and their spouses, grandchildren, and great grandchildren not only as her offspring, but as her peers and friends. She took pride in knowing and loving them each as individuals.


Vetta was Saved, and possessed an unshakable belief in God, knowing Jesus Christ as her Savior.


She will be reunited in Eternal Life with her parents, Carl and Eva Welch, brother Paul Welch, and grandsons Braden Toohey and Isaac Walker Foutch. She is survived by her husband, Donny Woodard, of Stillwater, OK; her children: Amber and husband Clif Blake of Wareham, MA; Laura Frye and fiance Aaron Kentner of Stillwater, OK; Travis Foutch and wife Jenny of Alva, OK; and Gabrielle Woodard of Stillwater, OK; 10 grandchildren, 4 great grandchildren, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.


You are invited to celebrate her life with us at College Hill Church of Christ on Saturday, August 30th at 2 pm.