Dyrl Gower Wood

Dyrl Gower Wood, 92, of 193 Lake Park Circle in Smithfield, died after a brief illness on Sunday, Feb. 22, at Transitions Hospice Home in Raleigh.

Dyrl was born in Wilsons Mills, N.C., on Nov. 5, 1933, the third child of Woodrow H. and Irene Gower Wood. He joined the U.S. Navy after graduating from high school; during his four-year enlistment he served as an electrician’s mate aboard a Tolland-class attack cargo ship in the Pacific theater during the last year of the Korean War. Dyrl married Vara Lee Matthews Wood of Smithfield in 1955 after a three-year courtship. The couple settled in San Diego, California, where Dyrl worked as an electrical engineer for Electro Instruments, which was later acquired by Honeywell.

The family will receive visitors at Parrish Funeral Home on Tuesday March 10, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. A graveside service will be held in Johnston Union Church cemetery on Wednesday March 11, 2026 at 2:00 PM.

In 1966, Dyrl became one of the first group of employees hired at IBM’s new facility in Research Triangle Park. One perk of the new position would be being close to family again after 10 years on the West Coast. Dyrl, Vara, and their nine-month-old son, Scott, settled in Raleigh.

Dyrl worked at IBM for the next 27 years as a manager in Test and Manufacturing Engineering department. In 1990, Dyrl accepted a transfer to the IBM manufacturing plant in Campinas, Brazil, where he and Vara lived until his retirement in 1992. In 2007, Dyrl and Vara moved back to Johnston County, at first living in the farmhouse Vara inherited from her mother, Gracie Peed Matthews Barbour, and then moving to their present home in Lake Park Villas.

Dyrl was predeceased by his wife, Vara, as well as two siblings, Kenneth and Nell Jean. He is survived by his son, Scott (Suzanne), and three grandchildren: Emily Wood, Eliza Wood, and Alex Wood. He is also survived by brothers Dennis (Sue) and Jerry (Mary Lynn), sister-in-law Faye Wood, and several nephews, nieces and their children.

Online condolences may be expressed to the family at Parrishfh.com