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Springfield, MO—Woody Justice, 62, owner of Justice Jewelers here, died suddenly of a stroke on October 24.

He was best known for his outgoing personality and humorous, lighthearted approach to being a jeweler. Despite his assertion that he was nothing more than an overgrown little kid from Chillicothe, Texas, who grew up raising pigs, Justice took his passion for both jewelry and the industry very seriously. He was a former director of Jewelers of America, and also was inducted into the 2007 National Jeweler Retailer Hall of Fame. His business, founded in 1984 in Springfield, grew from “an obscure location in a strip center,” according to JusticeJewelers.com, to a 10,000 square foot showroom. But despite such obvious success, Justice remained humble, down to earth, and focused first and foremost on the customer.

In this video where he tells the story of Justice Jewelers in his own words, Woody says the first thing he learned in life was to be nice to people. He grew up in a retail environment--his father and uncle owned a drugstore in Texas—and from the time he could see over the soda fountain, it was drilled into him to be nice. From that, he grew to be one of Springfield’s best-known jewelers, and one that wasn’t necessarily looking to sell jewelry to every customer that came in the door.

“Sometimes you just need something fixed,” he said in his video. And if the something that needed to be fixed was a stopped watch, there was no charge for the battery. Customers instead were asked if they’d make a donation to Camp Barnabas, a camp in the Ozarks for children with special needs.

“That’s where our watch battery money goes,” he’d said.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations in Woody’s memory be made to Camp Barnabas. He is survived by two daughters.

Justice’s death has sparked remembrances and comments from many fans in both his community and the industry. Both YouTube and Facebook were filled with comments, tributes, and sad goodbyes. Many locals said “wokka wokka” in honor of Justice’s famous diamond commercials, as said one fan on YouTube, “Woody, wasn’t a day went by that if I was having a rough day, one of your wokka wokka commercials would come on the air and put a smile on my face. Rest in peace.”

Woody Justice's parking space stands empty in silent tribute to its former occupant. Kate Peterson of Performance Concepts was at Justice Jewelers Tuesday and snapped this photo of the impromptu memorial.