Woodstock, Vermont

Fred Murray Blood, 86, longtime resident of Woodstock, died at Woodridge Rehabilitation and Nursing in Berlin, VT on Sunday, December 5, 2021 after a battle with cancer.

Fred was born on October 5, 1935 to Howard Ralph Blood and Julia Anita (Murray) Blood at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover, NH.

He graduated from Woodstock High School in 1954. He enlisted in the US Army and headed to Korea, returning home in 1956. He moved to Durham, North Carolina where he co-owned and ran an ambulance business and was a salesman for a life insurance company. He met his former wife, Stella Eileen (King) and they married in March 1957 and raised three children. They divorced in 1990.

Fred and his family returned to Woodstock, VT in 1965 where he worked for Cabot's Furniture Store. In 1966, he owned and operated the first Sears Catalog Store in town until 1975. Fred was a bus driver for the village, joining such great bus drivers like Bumpy Bumps, Frank Gay and Paul West. He also worked in real estate, was a member of the security team at the Hanover Inn, and drove for a medical transport company. He was lucky to land a position with the USPS, working as a rural carrier throughout the Woodstock area. You could often find him installing a new mailbox for his customers when he found it had been destroyed by the snowplows in the depth of winter snowstorms. He always kept a supply of replacement mailboxes in the back of his delivery vehicle for just such emergencies. After retiring from the USPS, he stayed active driving for the Vermont Blind, getting more involved with the Masonic Lodge and meeting friends at the Thompson Senior Center or local American Legion Post. He also found ample time to walk around the Woodstock village assisting the police department with parking enforcement.

Fred never met a stranger. He had that outgoing personality that drove him to meet and speak with all kinds of people. He once visited his daughter in Mt Orab OH, and developed a long-time friendship with someone he met while shopping at the local lumber/hardware store. They would get together whenever he was in Ohio and exchanged phone calls, gifts and cards throughout the year. Often, he would bring a new "friend" home to dinner….it could be a hitchhiker he picked up on the road but wanted to feed him first before taking him to his destination, or it could be an inmate from the local jail whom he'd hired for the day to help him with appliance deliveries or odd jobs around the yard.

He is survived by his three children: Kenneth Murray Blood (Holly Dutton) of Winter Haven, FL; Pamela Faith Williams of Rockledge, FL and David Wayne Blood (Tricia Blood) of Shelburne, VT. He is also survived by sisters Ellen Everly (Michael Everly), Phyllis Salls and Nancy Blood; grandchildren Stephen Blood, Matthew Blood, Joshua Williams, Thomas Williams, Derek Blood and Devyn Blood; great grandsons Jeremy Blood and Zachary Blood, and great granddaughter Juliet Williams. He was as pre-deceased by both parents and his step-mother Janet (Kibby) Blood, along with brothers Roger Blood, Howard Blood Jr and Thomas Blood, sisters Beverly Potwin, Frances Frink and Sharon Moore. There will be calling/visitation hours at Cabot Funeral Home in Woodstock on Monday, December 27 from 4-6pm. He will be interned at the Veterans Cemetery in Randolph, VT. Family is requesting donations be made in Fred's name to the Thompson Senior Center, Ora E. Paul Post 24, Woodstock, or the Coalition for Hemophilia B.

A committal service with military honors for Fred Murray Blood who died on December 5, 2021 will be held at the Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Randolph, Vermont on Thursday April 21st in the Chapel at 11:00am.

An on-line guestbook can be found at cabotfh.com