Jenea Lynn Woods

Jenea Lynn Woods passed away on September 25, 2025, after a courageous battle against cancer that lasted 10 years. She was 52 years old.

Jenea was born on May 28, 1973, to the late Arthur and Diane (née Lyon) Woods. The second of five daughters, Jenea was adventurous, artistic, fun-loving, and mischievous. In her youth, she was known to get into childhood predicaments with her neighborhood friends and fight with and tease her sisters. It was her fighting spirit, though, that allowed her to stand up for what she believed in and fiercely protect those whom she loved during her childhood and throughout her life.

After high school, Jenea studied at the University of Cincinnati where she earned her Associate of Arts Degree of Liberal Arts before deciding on her chosen field, nursing, and graduating with an Associate Degree of Applied Science of Nursing and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She often spoke of nursing as a profession that allows for opportunity to develop diverse interests because of the many paths one can follow. This was true for Jenea. At different times throughout her career, she worked in post-acute rehabilitation, dialysis, cardiovascular recovery, and case management. She also worked as a traveling nurse in England, Hawaii, St. Croix, and Cleveland. Because of her profession, Jenea was able to pursue her passion for travel, learn about and immerse herself in new cultures, and meet lifelong friends. Through her work as a nurse, she also positively affected the health and lives of people all over the world.

It was at one of the locations that she worked as a traveling nurse (St. Croix) that she reconnected with and then married, Michael Elsass. Although their parents’ houses are less than two miles from one another, they didn’t find one another again until twelve years after high school and 2000 miles away from home. After their adventures in St. Croix and later Cleveland, Jenea and Mike settled down in their hometown of Cincinnati to welcome the arrival of their son, Mitchel, and later their daughter, Josephine. Jenea was a loving mother and very active in her children’s lives. She was an enthusiastic supporter of their many activities, regularly attending sporting events, performances, and competitions. In spite of her declining health, she stayed involved, providing snacks, transportation, and moral support to her kids to help them to pursue their interests.

In addition to her dedication to her family, Jenea was passionate about travel, house plants, animals (especially her dog and cats), nature, and life in general. She was curious about and interested in people and she became fast friends with those she met at home and abroad. Although it was cut way too short, hers was a life full of love, friendship, laughter, adventure, and sisterhood.

Jenea was the beloved daughter of the late Arthur and Diane Woods. She was a loyal and supportive sister of Michon Woods (Eric Redder), Angie Woods (Andrew Pardi), Carrie Woods (Jeremy Harris), and Steffany (Matthew) Hughes. She was a loving aunt to her nephews and nieces, Maxwell (Danielle) Redder, Broderick Harris, Meredith Harris, Nathaniel Hughes, Theodore Harris, Wyatt Hughes, her late nephew, Myles Redder, and her great-niece, Lily Redder.

All who survive her are devastated by her loss and will miss her greatly.

Visitation will be at The Arlington Memorial Gardens Funeral Home, 2155 Compton Road, Cincinnati, OH 45231 (Follow the BLUE line) from 10:30am-1:30pm on Friday, October 24^th, 2025. A funeral service will follow at 1:30pm. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Camp Kesem at https://donate.kesem.org/team/608233, Mercy Ships at https://www.mercyships.org/ or to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation at https://nationalpcf.org/about-us/.