February 8, 1930 – March 11, 2022 Wister Wood A longtime local educator Morris Wister Wood Jr., a beloved South Bay teacher and hypnotherapist, passed away on Friday, March 11, 2022, at his home in Torrance, California, surrounded by four generations of family. Born in Philadelphia in 1930 and educated at Harvard, Mr. Wister worked in sales for United Steel and Alcoa before becoming a science teacher at Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, New York, around 1960. In 1968, he moved with his wife, Bertie Burr Dawes Wood, and their four children to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, where he taught high school science and environmental studies at Chadwick School. After retiring from Chadwick in 1983, Wood pursued his passion for hypnotherapy and energy healing, spending nearly 20 years helping people with hypnotherapy and teaching self-hypnosis at the Torrance Adult School. In 2010, he received the Hypnosis Foundation’s highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award. A renaissance man with wide and deep interests, Mr. Wister was an accomplished flutist, a champion squash player, an award-winning carp collector, a dog lover, and a devout Quaker whose pacifism led him to become a conscientious objector during the Korean War. Instead of serving in the military, he and his wife served as “house parents” for the Greer School orphanage for two years. Friends, past students, and clients still remember him for his kindness, hospitality, boundless humor, and quick wit. Wood is survived by his wife, Bertie; son, David; daughters, Carol, Diana, and Annabella; eight grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 3pm on April 3rd at St. Luke Presbyterian Church in Rolling Hills Estates. Bertie and Bertie were members of the church for over 50 years. All are welcome to attend in person or via Zoom https://youtu.be/P4LEcvTKTAI .
