The Moody Family, Elmer, Athlea, Mona Faye, and Roger in an Ozark Folk Center promotional photograph taken around the time that the Center opened.
This Ozark Folk Center 50th Anniversary Legacy Photo is in memory of our
parents and grandparents.
With love, Susan Moody Lemon and Greg Moody.
Elmer and Athlea Moody played folk music and Athlea was a jig dancer and a member of a square-dance set. They were members of the Rackensack Folklore Society and performed regularly at the Stone County courthouse and later at the Folk Center. Athlea's, grandfather was a stone mason and actually did the stonework for the courthouse and several buildings on Main Street in Mountain View, including the Lackey building. Vaughn Ralph Brewer did a feature story about this several years ago for the Stone County Leader.
Roger Allen Moody was the only child of Elmer and Athlea LaRoe Moody. He started playing guitar at age 15. He sang and also played the mandolin. He loved music and began playing locally. Mona Faye Richardson was born and raised in Timbo, Arkansas. She was the daughter of Lloyd and Ethel Richardson and the youngest of eight children. Her father sang and taught shape-noting singing in various singing schools in the area. Mona also began playing guitar and singing when she was 15 and loved it. She later played and sang with an area band. Roger and Mona Faye met one night at a music event they were both a part of in Mountain View around 1956. They began dating shortly after. They were married in October, 1957 and had two children, Susan (1960) and Greg (1963).
When Greg was only three he was singing and began to play the mandolin shortly thereafter. Susan learned to play the autoharp. So, the Roger Moody Family band was formed. Roger and Mona Faye were active members and strong supporters of the Rackensack Folklore Society. They realized early on, the folk music and culture of the people of Stone County were a treasure. They shared the vision of one day having a facility where the folk culture could not only be preserved, but taught to future generations, and be shared with the world. The Roger Moody Family played regularly at the Stone County courthouse "Hootenannies" on Friday nights before the Folk Center was built as well as performing at the annual Folk Festival held every April in the area. The family band performed the Summer of 1967 on weekends at Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO. A few years later, they performed an entire summer of weekends at Dogpatch USA.
The Moody family continued to play various events around the state to promote folk music along with a lot of other Rackensack members in an effort to bring the Folk Center to fruition. One performance especially memorable for Susan was performing at the ground breaking ceremony for the visitor center at Blanchard Springs Caverns in the early 1970's. Another fond memory was playing at Governor Dale Bumpers Inaugural Ball at the Arkansas State Capitol in 1971. Of course, Silver Dollar City and Dogpatch were also a lot of fun.
After the center opened in 1973, The Roger Moody Family performed regularly on the evening shows until around 1977. Greg became a staff musician at the folk center for a time after that and worked playing during the day in the craft village. Mona loved the Folk Center and took such pride in it. She, in her later years, returned to her beloved Folk Center and worked in the gift shop several years until her retirement. Greg continues to sing, play guitar, banjo, mandolin and pedal steel. He moved to Branson, MO in 1984. He is still performing there having performed on various Branson shows and at Silver Dollar City over the last 39 years.
This entry is by Susan Moody Lemon and the Legacy Photo is a family favorite.
The Committee of One Hundred Tribute Wall recognizes contributions to the preservation of Ozark folk culture.
If you would like to help preserve the folk culture of the Ozarks, consider a
The Committee is made up entirely of volunteers so, except for transaction fees, all of your donation funds music, craft, or the herb gardens and, as a 501c3 entity
your donation is tax deductible!
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