May Whittle Moody

Mary (May) Jennette Whittle Moody 1870-1963. Born at Chicago, IL, daughter of hymnwriter, Daniel Webster Whittle (El Nathan), and, upon marrying, daughter-in-law to Dwight Lyman Moody, she attended Northfield School in MA (one of two schools founded there by D L Moody), after which she attended Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH. She then attended the Royal Academy of Music in London, England (1890-91). She became a singer, organist, composer, and hymn editor. She assisted her father and Dwight L Moody in their evangelistic work. In 1894 she married William Revell Moody, and they had four children: Irene, Dwight, Beatrice, and Virginia. Only Beatrice lived to adulthood, the others died before age six. She and her husband returned to Northfield, MA, where her husband headed the schools founded by his father. She had an organ in her home, and she collaborated with her father by composing some of the tunes for his hymn lyrics. The last year of his life, her father, Daniel, lived with them (he died in 1901). She died at East Northfield, MA.

John Perry