Mary Woody

Mary Florence Woody was born to Hugh Ernest and May Lillie (Gilliland) Woody in LaFayette, Alabama, where she grew up on her family's farm.[2] Her father also owned a gristmill and a general store, where Woody often worked in her youth.[2] She had with five older siblings.[3]

Woody was inspired to pursue nursing by the violent events of World War II.[4] After graduating from high school, she completed Cadet Nurse Corps training at Charity Hospital in New Orleans in 1947.[5][6]

Before pursuing higher degrees in nursing, Woody worked for as a staff nurse for five years in three different hospitals.[7] In 1948, she joined the staff at Wheeler Hospital in Lafayette, Alabama. Then, in 1949, she transferred to the acute polio unit at Willard Parker Hospital in New York City.[5][7] One year later, she moved to Montgomery, Alabama, where she served as a nurse and supervisor at the VA Hospital until 1953.[5][7]

Woody then moved back to New York where she earned a B.A. in nursing in 1954 from Columbia University and a master's degree in nursing service administration in 1955 from Teachers College, Columbia University.[5][8]

After completing her master's degree, Woody worked for a year as a faculty member and field supervisor in the division of nursing at Teachers College, Columbia University.[7] She then returned to the South, where she served as the assistant director for medical and surgical nursing Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia between 1956 and 1968.[6][7] During this time, Woody also worked as a co-instructor for the master's program in nursing supervision at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.[7]

In 1968, Woody left Emory to accept the positions of assistant hospital director and director of nursing at Grady Memorial Hospital.[6][9] She would continue to serve in these positions until 1979.[6] While working at Grady, Woody helped create a diabetes day care program, specialized nurse-managed clinics, and a patient education program.[6][9] She also established clinical specialist positions in pediatrics, psychiatry, surgical rehabilitation, and burns.[10] Woody also recruited Elizabeth Sharp to found Grady's first nurse midwifery program.[6] Throughout her time at Grady, Woody retained her role as an assistant professor of nursing at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.[7]

In 1979, she became the founding dean at the Auburn University School of Nursing.[6] Over the course of the five years she served in this position, Woody helped develop a practice oriented undergraduate nursing program.[11]

Woody returned to Emory University in 1984 to serve as both the director of nursing and the associate hospital director.[6][7] During this period, she also served as the associate dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.[6] During this period at Emory, Woody helped to established a collaborative model that allowed hospital nurses to teach students and nursing faculty to maintain a clinical practice.[2][6] She also created several new positions for nurses in transplantation medicine and pain and incontinence management.[6][2]

On September 15, 1992 Woody was named the interim dean of the nursing Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.[8] She held this position for one year.[2] Woody retired from nursing on October 1, 1993, at the age of 67.[7]

Throughout her career, Woody advocated for the integration of professional associations in nursing.[5] She led the integration of the American Nurses Association.[12]

She also served on numerous committees over the years.[6] Most notably, she served as the chairperson and board of directors of the American Journal of Nursing Company.[8] She also served as a charter fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and a member of the board of directors of Wesley Homes.[8] Woody also held numerous professional memberships including the American Academy of Nursing, National League for Nursing, the American Nurses' Association.[6] Woody published several articles and essays.[6] Her works were often featured in the American Journal of Nursing.[6] In 1973, Woody also a co-authored the book Applying the Problem-Oriented System with John Willis Hurst and Henry Kenneth Walker.[6]

Nursing students at Auburn University can be considered for the Mary F. Woody Alumni Endowed Scholarship.[13]

Woody died in 2010 of congestive heart failure at an assisted living facility in Decatur, Georgia.[5]

• Certificate of Special Recognition (1978) - Georgia Nurses’ Association[14]
• Distinguished Nursing Achievement Award (1991) - Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing[15]
• Alumni Achievement Award for Nursing Service (1992) - Teachers College, Columbia University[16]
• Distinguished emeritus professor - Emory University[9]
• Distinguished Nursing Achievement Award (1994) - Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing[15]
• Honorary Alumnus Award (1995) - Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing[15]
• Living Legend Award (1997) - American Academy of Nursing[2]
• Marie Hippensteel Lingeman Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice (1999) - Sigma Theta Tau International[2]
• Named one of 50 “Women Pioneers in Health Care in Georgia” (1999) - the state of Georgia[17]
• Inducted into the Nursing Hall of Fame (1999) - Teachers College, Columbia University[14]
• Inducted into the Alabama Health Care Hall of Fame (2008)[18]

• List of Living Legends of the American Academy of Nursing

• Mary Woody papers, 1947-2008 at the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library Archives, Emory University