Lotta Moody: Inspiration for Moody Hall

Lotta Moody in the 1923 Grassburr

Moody Hall, a former girls' dormitory on the east side of campus built in 1936, was recently renovated to become offices for part of the university Information Technology Services department.  They moved in last month, and one staff member wanted to know more about the woman for whom the building was named.

Lotta Irene Hensarling Moody (1895-1980) is first mentioned (and pictured) in Tarleton materials on page 23 in the 1923 Grassburr yearbook (published that spring), as matron (dorm mother for Wilkerson Hall, aka “The Dump”).

Her husband, William Emmett (W. E.) Moody (1893-1980), is on the very next page – he is listed as “storekeeper.”  He was with Tarleton as early as May 1921, based on a reference to him playing on the faculty baseball team in the May 4, 1921 J-Tac student newspaper.

from the 15 October 1932 J-Tac, p. 4

In the 1922 yearbook, W. E. is listed as the “booker and accountant.”  A Miss Annie Cameron is listed as matron that year, so it appears Mrs. Moody took over the job the following year.

According to an article in the J-Tac of January 18, 1936 (when her resignation was announced), she later graduated from the Cosmopolitan School of Music and Dramatic Arts in Chicago.

Mrs. Moody was a very popular dorm matron.  A search for "Mrs. Moody" in the online J-Tacs produced 155 issues with references to her using that term.  Besides the example shown to the left, other articles referred to her hosting teas and dances, making fudge and other candy, and providing marshmallows for campfires.Lotta is last pictured in the yearbook in 1936 (see below).  The newest girl’s dormitory, finished in the summer of that year, was named in her honor.

By the time of the 1940 U. S. Census, Lotta and Emmett (as W. E. was also called) were living in Piedmont, Grimes County, Texas.  He was a farmer and she was not employed.  They had no children.  They died in 1980 within 15 days of each other, and are both buried in Erwin Cemetery in Navasota, Grimes County, Texas.

Lotta Moody in the 1936 Grassburr