ABOUT US
Mission
The Mary Moody Northen Endowment is a charitable foundation which awards grants to support environmental, social service, educational and historical projects benefitting people and institutions in Virginia and Texas.
Its main office is housed in a cottage at 2628 Broadway in Galveston, on the grounds of Moody Mansion.
History
Galveston businesswoman and philanthropist Mary Moody Northen established the Mary Moody Northen Endowment in 1964. Mrs. Northen was the daughter of William Lewis Moody, Jr., of Galveston, Texas. After her father died in 1954, she assumed leadership of more than 50 family enterprises, and guided their growth for three decades until her death in 1986.
Among the companies she directed were the American National Insurance Company and Moody National Bank in Texas, Mountain Lake Lodge in Virginia, and a large number of hotel and ranching operations around the country. She also chaired the Moody Foundation, which was founded by her mother and father and has become one of the largest philanthropic foundations in Texas. Mrs. Northen was featured on the cover of Newsweek Magazine, and at least one article in the national media referred to her “The First Lady of Finance.”
About Mary Moody Northen
Mary Elizabeth Moody Northen was born on February 10, 1892, to W.L. Moody, Jr., and Libbie Rice Shearn Moody.
The eldest of four children, Mary was schooled by a private tutor and made her gala debut in the ballroom of the family’s elegant mansion in Galveston. She married a local business man, insurance company owner, Edwin Clyde (Mike) Northen on December 1, 1915, and moved into a cute little cottage two blocks west of the family home on Broadway.
Mary and Mike, who had no children, were avid travelers who enjoyed spending time at the family ranches and hotels. She collected mementos from her vast travel and some of her favorites were pottery, baskets and Native American jewelry.
After 40 years of marriage her husband passed away, very soon after her father died just seven weeks later on July 21, 1954. She was known to be a quiet and shy person for most of her life. She was well known for rising above her grief to successfully guide the family’s immense business empire.
“The greatest way to honor my father is to see his organizations prosper” she said at the time.
Her father had been grooming Mary for these roles for decades. It is said her first venture was the Great American Chicken Company, a business her grandfather set up for her as a child, selling eggs and chickens to family and friends. She dined with her father regularly and discussed business almost every night after her mother’s death. She began serving on various boards of the Moody entities in 1942.
At the age of 62, her father died, Mary became president of the American National Insurance Company, Moody National Bank, the News Publishing Company (which owned the Galveston News and the Galveston Tribune), the Commonwealth Life and Accident Insurance Company of St. Louis, American Printing Company, and W.L. Moody and Company, Unincorporated, Bankers of Galveston.
She also chaired some 50 organizations, including the Moody Foundation, the W.L. Moody Cotton Company, the Southern Trading Company, the National Hotel Company and nearly 40 hotels owned by Affiliated National Hotels, and Silver Lake Ranches, which owned properties in Texas, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.
She established her foundation 1964.
Moody Family Heritage
The Moody family’s financial success dates to the years following the Civil War, when Virginia native Col. William Lewis Moody (1828 - 1920) established a cotton, wool, and mercantile business on Galveston Island. Expanding later into banking, the port, and railroads, Col. Moody became a community leader who helped build a prosperous business environment in Galveston and Texas. He was a major force in establishing the Island’s prominence in the worldwide cotton trade, for example, and Galveston was known as “The Wall Street of the Southwest” during his lifetime.
The Colonel’s son, W. L. Moody, Jr. (1865 - 1954), took up the family business pursuits at a young age. Educated at the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Texas, he became a partner in W. L. Moody & Co. on his 21st birthday. He convinced his father to open a private bank in 1889, and shortly thereafter opened the National Bank of Texas. As his genius for business grew, he built a diverse enterprise that encompassed banking, insurance, hotels, ranches, newspaper publication and printing. He established the Moody Foundation as his legacy to the people of Texas.
W.L. Moody, Jr., began grooming his daughter, Mary Moody Northen (1892 - 1986), to take over the leadership of the family businesses after the 1936 death of her brother, Shearn. Mrs. Northen’s father and her husband died within a few weeks of each other, yet she rose above her grief and grew into her role as a corporate executive. As head of the Moody enterprises, Mrs. Northen was guided by her father’s ideas and plans, but as chair of the Moody Foundation she forged new paths, particularly in the area of historic preservation.
Moody Family Philanthropy
The Moody legacy of civic responsibility and philanthropy extends back to the earliest days in Texas. Moody hotels and restaurants provided food and shelter during hard times such as the Depression or the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, for example, and generations of “Moody Scholars” have earned college degrees with their help; schools and universities in Texas and Virginia have benefited from Moody generosity, as have health care facilities, senior citizens programs and parks and recreational areas.
As chair of the Moody Foundation, Mary Moody Northen directed one of the state’s largest charitable foundations, and she also gave her own money to support worthwhile projects in Galveston. She supported the restoration of the Tall Ship Elissa, for example, the conversion of the Island’s abandoned train station into a railroad museum and office building, the construction of an outdoor theatre at Galveston Island State Park and the production of the Lone Star drama to be performed there. The Foundation contributed significantly to establishment of Galveston College and helped Texas A&M University at Galveston form its Maritime Academy, and Mrs. Northen established the Mary Moody Northen Endowment to carry on her philanthropic work in 1964.
Mrs. Northen died in Galveston on August 25, 1986, at the age of 94.
During his time as chair of the Moody Foundation, Robert L. Moody, Sr., a grandson of W. L. Moody, Jr., created Moody Gardens, and he played a major role in the field of brain injury through the establishment of the Moody Endowment to form the Transitional Learning Center, a state-of-the-art recovery and rehabilitation center with an international reputation.
In addition, the Moody family established the Permanent Endowment Fund at Moody Methodist Church, providing grants to non-profit organizations serving people in Galveston and around the world.
ENDOWMENT PROPERTIES
Mountain Lake Lodge
Mountain Lake Lodge is a traditional family getaway nestled on a picturesque 2,600-acre mountaintop near Pembroke, Virginia, about a 30-minute drive northwest of Blacksburg.
Guests have enjoyed land and lake activities, entertainment and adventure here for over 150 years, and savor the change of pace in clean mountain air.
In the tradition of the “Grand Southern Hotel,” Mountain Lake Lodge offers a wide assortment of lodge accommodations, cottages and cabins and is a popular location for family vacations and holiday getaways, reunions, anniversaries, weddings, birthdays, honeymoons, business conferences, picnics and retreats and many other memorable events.
Moody Mansion
Galveston’s 28,000 square-foot, four-story Moody Mansion was completed in 1895, and was restored to its turn of the century splendor in the late 1980s.
Today, guests visit 20 rooms on a tour that depicts the home life of the Moody family, which built one of the nation’s great financial empires.
W.L Moody Jr. bought the home from the heirs of the original owners soon after the great hurricane of 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Moody and their four children celebrated the first of more than 80 Christmas seasons in the house in December of that year. The house remained home for Moody family members until 1983, and today its rooms are filled with family furnishings and personal effects. A garage facility houses three restored family vehicles dating back to the 1930s, and a gift shop offers Mansion visitors the opportunity to take home a remembrance of historic Galveston.
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