Retirement party for Dewayne Wood set for Thursday

The public is invited to attend Blackwell Chief of Police Dewayne Wood’s retirement party Thursday at the Blackwell Event Center.

The party will take place from 2 – 4 p.m. at the Event Center at the Kay County Fairgrounds on Main Street. Light refreshments will be served, and Wood will be presented with his retirement clock after 25 years of service to the City of Blackwell.

Wood announced his retirement in February in an emotional farewell at that month’s meeting of the Blackwell City Council.

Wood was hired at the Blackwell Police Department in 1998 and was promoted to chief of police in 2014 following the retirement of Fred LeValley.

“I’m going to miss coming to work every day,” Wood said. “I’ll miss the camaraderie here. I love working here, genuinely. I love what I do. I love the people that I work with and the community that I work in. It’s been the best time of my professional life."

Cory Ingram, a mainstay at the Blackwell Police Department and a member of the Blackwell VFW Post, was named as Wood’s successor in March.