10/21/2026
Mention the Wood family during a conversation around Eau Claire, and you will hear lots of stories about car sales and airplane flying. In 1923, Mary’s father Guy Wood, along with Leo McDonald and M.A. Sine, organized the Eau Clarie Airplane Corporation, leasing 80 acres in Putnam Heights. By 1929, Eau Claire Airways was serving the Twin Cities, La Crosse, Wausau, Madison, and Milwaukee.
Mary was two years older than the airport. The Wood brothers loved flying and built a glider in their parents’ basement. Sister Mary longed to fly as well. She finally got her chance in college. While attending the Eau Claire Teachers College in 1942, she enrolled in the Civil Air Patrol training program. During an interview for an oral history project at the Chippewa Valley Museum, Mary described the effort needed to obtain her pilot’s license. She said that “it was hard work. We had to be there for class, We had night school, ground school. It was pretty hard. We had to put in our hours.”
Ten men and Mary passed their final test given by Max Conrad, flight examiner. One of those men was Marshall Barnes. Four years later when he and Mary were married, he was known as Lt. Barnes. Before their wedding, Mary taught second grade in Mondovi and West Bend.
The only thing Mary loved more than flying, besides Marshall, was being in nature at Lower Long Lake. Despite the fact that he could not swim, she convinced him to buy a cottage on an island there. Her family shared in her obituary that she “never lost the ability to see the beauty and wonder in a tree, a feather, or a ripple on the lake. She also enjoyed reading, birdwatching, and arts and crafts.”
Mary lived most of her life in Eau Claire, passing away in 2008. She volunteered at the Chippewa Valley Museum, Luther Hospital’s Red Carpet Thrift Shop, and First Congregational Church Women’s Fellowship. She also was a member of the Chippewa Wildlife Society, the Sigurd Olson Loon Watch Project at Northland College, and the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo. Diana, Editor
📷Mary Wood, CVM #524100-0019, 1940
