Mody C. (Mody Coggin) Boatright

Born in Mitchell County, Texas, on October 16, 1896, he grew up in a ranching family and went on to build a career as both an educator and a folklorist. Reliable Texas history and archival sources describe him as a professor of English at the University of Texas, where he taught for decades and also served as chairman of the English Department.

He became closely associated with the Texas Folklore Society, serving as secretary-editor and helping collect, edit, and share regional stories, songs, and legends. Sources on his career note that he stood out for presenting folk material in a direct, uncluttered way, trying to stay close to the sound and shape of spoken storytelling rather than polishing it into something overly literary.

That approach made his books and editorial work valuable not only to general readers, but also to anyone interested in how Texans actually told stories. He died on August 20, 1970, leaving behind a body of work that still matters to readers of folklore, Western humor, and regional history.