Cloudy, 36° F
(Apr. 28, 2006)
Funeral services will be conducted Friday, April 28 at 2 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church in Cody for Mary Ethel Larsen Moody, Cody, who died Tuesday, April 25 in the hospice room at West Park Hospital.
She was the eldest of four children of Henry C. Larsen and Helen A. Hagbery Larsen. She was born Jan. 22, 1911, in Meeteetse and attended grade school at the W- and Dick Creek Schools on the Wood River. She boarded with family friends to graduate from Meeteetse High School in 1928.
She then completed a degree in education at the University of Wyoming in 1932 and returned home to the ranch where she began the process of proving up on a homestead on Gooseberry Creek. Her first teaching job was at the Bobcat Ranch on the South Fork of the Shoshone River during the 1934-35 school year.
Over the following five years, she taught third and fourth grades in Meeteetse. She then decided that teaching was not her vocation of choice, and she returned to the ranch to be part of the life that she cherished. From that time on, she worked side by side with her brothers and her parents to make a success of the ranch.
In 1949, Ethel fell in love with and married a young cowboy from Oklahoma, John (Jay) Moody. Together they had one son, Jay. She continued through her working lifetime to be an integral part of the ranching operation — fulfilling the need of the moment whether it was milking cows, keeping the corporation books, cooking or on horseback gathering and moving cattle. She was a charter member of the Meeteetse Cowbelles.
Ethel’s recreational passion was dancing, from New Year’s dances at the Dick Creek School, to the Meeteetse Fireman’s Ball, to Wyoming Fiddlers Association gatherings.
She loved children and was blessed to have three grandsons who became the focus of her attention. They, in turn, presented her with a great-granddaughter and two great-grandsons. For Ethel, there was no greater delight than a child on her lap listening to her read a story or simply being comforted.
Survivors include her husband, John (Jay) Moody of Cody; her son, Jay (Connie) Moody of Cody; grandsons Aaron (Chris) Moody of Powell, Colin (Lori) Moody of Casper and Brian Moody of McMinnville, Ore.; great-granddaughter Ashley and great-grandson Johnathon of Powell, great-grandson Jason of Casper; brothers Ralph Larsen and Curtis Larsen of Meeteetse; and a nephew and four nieces.
She was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, John Larsen; and sisters-in-law, Retta Larsen and Janet Larsen.
Graveside services will follow at the Meeteetse Cemetery.
