Gilbert Leroy "Gil" Wooden went home to Glory on May 25th, just shy of his 77th birthday on Monday, May 25, 2020. Gil peacefully passed surrounded by his family, pastor and wife. He is survived by his wife of nearly 55yrs, Cheryl "Chery", their three children; Brian Wooden (Jody), Laura Griffith (Mike) and Thad Wooden and their three granddaughters; Ariel Wisniewski (Josh), Savannah and Keannah Wooden. He is also survived by his brother, Richard Wooden of Bozeman, his children and grandchildren.Gil was born May 26th 1943, in Longmont, CO to Floyd and Ruth Wooden. He graduated from Colorado State University in 1965 with a Bachelors of Science Degree, and completed his Masters of Education Degree in 1969. He married Cheryl Lynn Pierceall, his college sweetheart, on August 7th, 1965 in Colorado Springs, CO. His 48 years of teaching high school math, science, Bible and coaching wresting and girls cross country began in 1967 in Greybull, WY. In 1967 he and Chery moved to Helena, MT where he taught and coached at Helena High School. In 1973 he became Capital High School's 1st wrestling coach and later the Girls Cross Country coach. After retiring from public schools in 1994, he then started Rocky Mountain Christian High School and was the administrator/teacher until 2002. He then went on to teaching/administrating at Last Chance Academy where he retired in 2013.His passion in life was preaching, teaching, coaching and singing with Chery in church choirs/praise teams, all with the purpose of bringing glory to JESUS CHRIST so that others would come to accept HIM as LORD and SAVIOR. He enjoyed being a part of a prison ministry at MSP and RYO, as well as supporting the Network of Praise radio station and the Gideon ministry. Gil loved to run and compete in many road races, including a biathlon, trifecta and a marathon. His joy was coaching girls cross country at Capital High School, and in 2019 he was inducted into the Helena Sports Hall of Fame with his Girls Cross Country team for winning the state championship in1990. He will be lovingly remembered by his family, friends and students for his love, devotion, integrity, generosity, sense of humor, and love for brownies.Gil's family would like to thank all their friends and church family at Last Chance Chapel for their prayers and love and the medical staff at St. Peter's Health for their excellent care. Also a big thank you to his caregivers, Gemma Spoelder and Grace Lambert for the care, love and joy they brought to the entire family. His home-going celebration will be posted later this summer at the lastchancechapel.org. website and at SimpleCreamtionMT.comSimple Cremation Montana has assisted the family.