This edited video documents the funeral service held for Mary Moody Northen on August 25, 1986. It also includes three news segments covering Mary Moody’s Northen’s memorial service from Houston stations KPRC, KHOU, and KTRK. A visitation and memorial was held at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Galveston, Texas. Former Texas Governor Mark White was in attendance as an honorary pallbearer. Known as the Grand Dame of Galveston, Mary Moody Northen carried out the Moody family legacy by running the Moody Foundation upon her father’s death. She also contributed to many philanthropic efforts throughout the state of Texas and the United States as a whole after establishing the Mary Moody Northen Endowment in 1964.

Mary Moody Northen was born in Galveston, Texas, on February 10, 1892. Her parents were William Lewis Moody Jr. and Libbie Rice Shearn, and she married Edwin Clyde Northen, an insurance company owner, in 1915. Mary’s father helped expand the Moody family’s enterprises and established the Moody Foundation in 1942. After both her father’s and husband’s deaths in 1954, Mary became head of the Moody family rather than her brothers. She ran the Moody Foundation and the family’s many enterprises including the Moody National Bank, the American National Insurance Company as well as several newspapers, printing companies, and hotels. Mary Moody Northen went on to establish the Mary Moody Northen Endowment in 1964 to carry out her philanthropic work as well. The Endowment and the Moody Foundation became some of the largest charitable foundations in Texas, and they funded many historical preservation and restoration projects in Galveston and around the state. Mary Moody Northen continued running the Moody Foundation and Mary Moody Northen Endowment until her death on August 25, 1986.

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