Lysabeth Hogan Wood

Lysabeth Ann Hogan Wood
Lysabeth Ann “Sissy” Hogan Wood died peacefully Sunday evening, February 26th, in College Station, Texas surrounded by her loved ones.

Sissy was born to Tom and Beulah Hogan in Sweetwater in 1935, where Tom was plant manager for the Gulf Oil Refinery. Along with older brother, Tommy, the family moved to Port Arthur in 1936 where Sissy spent the next seventy years. She was educated at St. James Catholic School, Bishop Byrne, and Thomas Jefferson High Schools. She attended Randolph Macon Women’s College in Virginia before returning to The University of Texas in Austin where she earned a BA in English. She returned to Port Arthur to teach 7th grade English at the age of 21. Pursued by many, she finally said “I do” to Pat Wood, Jr. in 1958. One year later came daughter, Ellen, and three years later, son, Pat, III. In Port Arthur’s heyday, she was a highly active volunteer and champion for many community causes – including chairing the Service League, CavOILcade, United Way, and the Williams Sanders chapter of the DAR. She also was named to the Citizen’s Advisory Committee to desegregate the Port Arthur public schools. She was active in the Port Arthur Historical Society and Kappa Alpha Theta. Sissy was the 1988 Port Arthur Quota Club’s Woman of the Year. Her love of beautiful things inspired her to become the proprietress of “Lysabeth’s” Gift Shop next door to Pat Wood Drug Store. Following the sale of the Drug Store in 2006, Sissy and Pat built a house at the Traditions Club in Bryan. The Texas Longhorn thrived in Aggieland, plowing her love of civic engagement to the Bush Presidential Library, the Women’s Club and Texas Aggie sports. Her three oldest grandsons are attending Texas A&M, so her well-known high level of family engagement extended to the next generation. Sissy was defined by her vigor, clear-eyed faith, optimism, love for Port Arthur, and her strong sense of justice. She was an iconic force of nature whom we loved and who loved fiercely back.

She is survived by her daughter, Ellen; son, Pat III and his wife, Kathleen; her four grandsons: Patrick, John Thomas, Charles, and William.

Sissy’s life will be celebrated where it began, at St. James Catholic Church in Port Arthur, Friday, March 3, 2023, with a visitation at 10am, remembrance/eulogy at 11:30, Mass of the Resurrection at noon and then burial beside Pat Jr., her brother, and her parents at Greenlawn Cemetery.

Your prayers of thanksgiving for her remarkable life are the greatest gift you can share, but if you wish to remember her in another way, please consider a donation in her name to the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. A lifelong teacher, Sissy understood the foundational role of reading in bestowing personal dignity and allowing everyone to reach their God-given potential.