A Texas-Sized Donation
for Virginia Colleges
By Gregory Turley, Washington and Lee Class of 1987
On the list carved in stone of Honored Benefactors of
Washington and Lee University is the name of a mysterious woman. Her name, Mary Moody Northen, also is on the
Leyburn Library auditorium and lobby.
What motivated this woman from Galveston, Texas to donate more than
$500,000 to Washington and Lee in the
1970s?
Not only did Mary Moody Northen donate to Washington and Lee,
she also was a major donor to Virginia Military Institute (when she was the
first honorary woman graduate) as well as Hollins University. She did not attend any of these institutions
of higher learning. But with total gifts
of nearly $5 million, she made an impact on these colleges in Virginia’s
Shenandoah Valley.
Mrs. Northen was a successful businesswoman in her own
right. She was President of 52
companies, engaged in banking, cotton, insurance, ranching and hotels. She was born in Galveston, Texas but her
story begins with her grandfather in Chesterfield, Virginia, near Richmond.
Her grandfather, William L. Moody (appropriately known as W.L.)
graduated from the University of Virginia (1847), and thereafter moved to
Fairfield, Texas and began the practice of law.
Finding that a bit dull, he entered the mercantile business and later moved
to Galveston, Texas.
During the Civil War, he rose to the rank of Colonel in the
Confederate Army, and was known for the rest of his life as Col. Moody. Col. Moody was married to Libbie Rice
Shearn Moody. Libbie was cousin to
Susannah Pleasants Cocke, who with her husband, Charles, were founders of
Hollins University.
Libbie and Col. W.L. Moody had 2 sons, William Jr. (father of
Mary) and Frank Bradley Moody. As a
teenager, William attended classes at Hollins and lived in Hollins East
dormitory for a time. Thereafter he
attended Virginia Military Institute for 1 year (1886) and the University of
Texas. Legend has it that he was fond of saying that
he had learned all of his manners “as a young lady at Hollins”.
The Moody family had a summer home in Lexington, at 601 S.
Main St. It was later bought by James
Whitehead, longtime registrar of Washington and Lee. The family also owned the Mountain Lake Hotel
at Pembroke, VA, made famous for its providing the set location of the classic
1987 movie Dirty Dancing.
William L. Moody Jr. had 4 children, Mary, Shearn, William
III and Libbie (who later married Congressman Clark Thompson.) After the death of her father, William, Jr, who died in 1954, and the death of her husband Clyde Northen,
who died within 7 weeks of each other, Mrs. Northen became head of the Moody
businesses.
Mrs. Northen thereafter made a number of large donations to
Virginia Military Institute, resulting in the name of Moody Hall off the parade
grounds, as well as the Mary Moody Northen Library. In addition to her status as the first honorary
VMI alumna, she also served on the Board of Visitors, established an endowed professor’s
chair in the Arts and became the first Life Member of the Institute
Society.
She also donated over $1 million to Hollins University and
her generosity can be seen in the Mary Moody Northen Swimming Center as well as the Moody Center,
the student center (named after her parents William Moody Jr. and Libbie Moody). She served as a trustee of Hollins and was an
honorary alumna and honorary trustee for life.
At her death in 1987, a VMI honor guard paid their respects
to one of their own. She is buried in
the family mausoleum in Hitchcock, Texas.
She was 94 years old.
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