Bertha Pearl Wood (1934 - 1954)

Born 14 Jun 1934 in Rockingham County, Virginia

Died 27 Mar 1954 at age 19 in Greensboro, Guilford, North Carolina

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Biography

Bertha was a daughter of Robert L. Wood and Annie Lam/Lamb.

Greensboro Daily News

Greensboro, North Carolina

28 March 1954, pages 1 and 18

Man, 74, Kills Nurse, Takes Own Life Here

A 74-year-old retired real estate dealer murdered his attractive teen-age nurse and housekeeper and then killed himself at a Gorrell Street rooming house last night.

Clarence William Andrew was dead when police arrived at 328 Gorrell St. He had shot himself in the right temple with a .32 caliber pistol.

Bertha Pearl Wood, 19, was taken to Wesley Long Hospital where she died in the emergency room. Andrew had shot her twice -- once in the left breast and again through the stomach.

Police found three suicide notes in the dead man's pocket. One, dated Wednesday, gave instructions for funeral and burial for him and the woman.

Another said "Please God forgive me for this. Just can't stand it any longer."

The double-death occurred at the home of Andrew's sister, Mrs. T. C. Bray.

Mrs. Bray and her son, Dan Bray, were in the house when Andrew fired the three shots shortly before 8 p.m.

They told police that the Wood girl was in her bedroom preparing to go out on a date when Andrew called her to step into the hallway.

Five minutes later Mrs. Bray and her son heard the shots.

Miss Wood had fallen at the bottom of a long stairway. Andrew

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Man, 74, Kills Nurse, Takes Own Life Here

(Continued from Page One)

lay on his back near a door. The pistol was near to his right hand.

Dr. W.W. Harvey, county coroner ruled the deaths as murder and suicide.

Police were told by the dead man's relatives that he was worth "some $300,000" when he left Charlottesville, Va., a few years ago. He had lived there for 40 years.

Lately he had been managing a fishing lake near Reidsville, and recently lived at a combination grocery store-gasoline station, near there.

Miss Wood also lived there.

Police said that she was a native of Booneville, Va., a small town near Charlottesville.

She and Andrew came to Greensboro about three weeks ago and moved into the Gorrell street home.

Andrew, a native of Harrisonburg, Va., had lived in Greensboro during the earlier part of his life.

He is survived by another sister, Mrs. Era Short of Greensboro, and a brother, Vernell Andrew of Miami, Fla.

Greensboro Daily News

Greensboro, North Carolina

29 March 1954

Girl's Slaying, Suicide Mark Crime Here

The murder of a pretty 19-year-old brunette and the suicide of her 74-year-old assailant spotlighted a weekend of various phases of crime in Greensboro.

Dead were Miss Bertha Pearl Wood of Boonesville, Va., and Clarence William Andrew of Charlottesville, Va.

Dr. W.W. Harvey, county coroner, said that Andrew killed Miss Wood and then shot himself through the temple. The double-slaying occurred at 328 Gorrell St. Saturday night.

The girl's body was taken to Charlottesville yesterday while Andrew's body will be shipped to the same city tonight.

…..

Both bodies will be taken to Charlottesville for funeral service and burial.

Police said that they had learned that Andrew had told several people recently that he planned to kill himself.

Yesterday he completed arrangement for the sale of his car and indicated in one of his notes that the money should pay for the funeral costs for both.

Burial

Find a Grave Memorial of Bertha Pearl Wood

Sources

• Virginia Delayed Birth Records. "Name: Bertha Pearl Wood, Birth Date: 14 June 1934, Birth Place: Rockingham, Virginia, USA," ancestry.com
• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VRYS-YKM : accessed 25 February 2018), Bertha Wood in household of Robert Wood, White Hall Magisterial District, Albemarle, Virginia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 2-18, sheet 38A, line 29, family 699, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 4242.
• "Man, 74, Kills Nurse, Takes Own Life Here," Greensboro Daily News, Greensboro, North Carolina, 28 March 1954, pages 1 and 18.
• "Girl's Slaying, Suicide Mark Crime Here," Greensboro Daily News, Greensboro, North Carolina, 29 March 1954
• North Carolina Death Certificate of Bertha Pearl Wood. Certificate 8384 (27 March 1954). North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.
• "Mills/Dawson/Andrews Research Report", 25 December 1978, Wilson L. Taylor (Rockville, Maryland), to Elizabeth R. Haddock (Tampa, Florida)