Steven E. Wooddell

Steve was born in West Virgina, and his family came from the small rural farming town of Frost, WV. After graduating high school, Steve left his small town to put himself through mortuary school and then decided to settle in the NOVA area to begin his dream of starting a business. Steve never ever forgot his roots. In 1969, Steve opened the doors of Metropolitan Funeral Service, Inc, which at the onset was merely renting a prep room from Pearson Funeral Home. Steve knocked on doors and had doors shut in his face, but he never gave up on his dream. He utilized his best assets, which were his people skills and his unbridled work ethic. With that in hand, and his devoted wife, Molly, supporting his dream, Metropolitan grew year after year to become the largest trade service in the DMV. He bought and sold funeral homes, grew in his business acumen, launched into real estate, ran a thriving farm business with his cousin and built new funeral homes from the ground up with friends and colleagues. Steve was devoted to his beloved daughters, Karen and Julie and their husbands John and Rick and he cherished his 10 grandchildren, two of whom preceded him in death. Steve’s great joy was to entertain, mentor and help others either in time of need or to encourage them to pursue their passion relentlessly. Steve was brilliant and shared his knowledge and skills with others to push them to be their best and to never settle. Steve loved hunting and fishing, and he loved his farm hometown of Frost. Steve surrounded himself with great people, extraordinary employees, friends of character and family all of whom were devoted to him. His good nature, incredible spirit of generosity, his desire to help others and his overall presence will be greatly missed by all who were blessed to know him. Visitation will be held on Friday, October 25, 2024 at The King’s Chapel, 12925 Braddock Rd, Clifton, VA 20124, from 3:30-6:30PM. Memorial service will be held at The King’s Chapel on Saturday, October 26, 2024 at 1PM. Interment will be held privately at Columbia Gardens Cemetery, Arlington, VA. In lieu of flowers, and to honor Steve’s spirit of generosity, we encourage all to give either to The King’s Chapel in memory of Steve or to a charity that is meaningful to you. Lastly, we would be honored if you would leave a short comment of how Steve impacted your life, words that best describe Steve, or your favorite memory of Steve in the condolence section. Please note two details for the the Memorial Service on Saturday. *The celebration of his life will be livestreamed and is available at https://live.thekingschapel.org/. **To help mitigate parking issues at The King's Chapel there will be a parking shuttle available at Willow Springs Elementary School beginning at 11:30am to shuttle you to The King's Chapel. It will run every 15 minutes. Willow Springs Elementary School is located at 5400 Willow Springs School Rd, Fairfax, VA 22030.

Tributes

Steven E. Wooddell

January 16, 1946 - October 17, 2024