The Rev. Cannon George Woodward, III. Photo by Bill Youngblood.
The Rev. Canon George Frederick Woodward III — rector since 2018 of St. Paul’s Anglican Church in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and from 1995 to 2018 rector of St. Edmund’s Church in San Marino — died yesterday in an automobile accident while traveling from Mexico City to San Miguel de Allende. He was 70 and was killed instantly at the crash scene. He had planned to retire this November.
Survivors include his sister, Stacy Woodward.
A Requiem Eucharist will be held Friday, Aug. 29, 2025 at 11 a.m. at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, El Cardo #6, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The Right Rev. Alba Sally Sue Hernandez Garcia, Bishop of Mexico, will preside, assisted by the Rev. Padre Miguel de Jesus Rangel Hernandez, assistant priest of St. Paul’s Church, and the Rev. Canon Francis Hebert, Assisting Priest at St. Paul’s Church.
For family and friends who are unable to attend in person, the service will be accessible via Zoom, here. (ID: 854 5332 8313, Access Code: 125125)
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The George F. Woodward III Memorial Fund, established in memory of Father George to benefit the ministries of St. Paul’s to which he was very committed. For more information, please contact the parish office at +52.415.121.3424 or StPaulManagementSMA@gmail.com.
“Canon Woodward is a legend in our diocese for loving his people so well, for serving the church of Jesus Christ so faithfully, and for standing up for those most at risk, especially victims of injustice in Central America,” Bishop John Harvey Taylor said in a message to the diocese. “It was his dream before retirement to do ministry in a Spanish-language setting. His folks at St. Paul’s loved him as much as we do and are hard hit today. They’ll be praying for us, as I know we do for them, as well as everyone in George’s family.”
Woodward was an honorary canon in both the dioceses of Los Angeles and El Salvador and served from 2005 to 2017 as vice president of the board of Foundation Crisostal, an El Salvador-based human rights organization that recently suspended operations there due to escalating violence.
Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Ohio, Woodward graduated from Ohio University and received an M.Div. degree from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Chicago. He was ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Los Angeles by Bishop Robert C. Rusack in 1984 and served as associate rector of All Saints-by-the-Sea, Santa Barbara, for five years. Thereafter he served two years in the Republic of Turkey as a civilian chaplain at Incirlik Air Force Base and at the British Embassy Chapel of St. Nicholas in Ankara.
Returning to the United States in 1991, Woodward was called as rector of St. Timothy’s, Apple Valley, and served as dean of the L.A. diocese’s Eastern Deanery. He also served on the board of Hillsides Home for Children and chaired the diocesan Program Group on Global Partnership.