Mack Eugene Moody

Please join Mack Eugene Moody’s family and friends for a gathering in his memory at the UTM Champions Club, Hardy M. Graham Stadium (top floor of home field side) on Sunday, March 16, 2025, from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. Drop by to visit, reminisce, and enjoy light refreshments. Interment with a private ceremony will be at Eastside Cemetery in Martin at 1:00 p.m. on the same day.

Mack passed away peacefully on July 12, 2024, after a brief hospitalization at Texoma Medical Center in Denison, TX. Prior to his death, he resided at the Clyde W Cosper Texas State Veterans Home in Bonham, TX, for one year, but he lived in west Tennessee for most of his life. He was 79 years old.

Mack was born in Atlantic City, NJ on March 16, 1945, but grew up in Memphis, TN. He graduated from South Side High School in 1963, where he was an all-around athlete, lettered in four sports (excelling in football and baseball), and was named “Most Athletic” in his senior class. Mack attended the University of Tennessee at Martin in Martin, TN from 1963–1967 on a full football scholarship. In 1967, he joined the United States Coast Guard. For his first four years, he performed search and rescue missions in the Gulf of Mexico while stationed in New Orleans, LA. In 1971, he was accepted into the USCG Officer Candidate School in Yorktown, VA. After graduating from OCS, he served as a deck officer on a Coast Guard cutter out of Wilmington, NC and finally, in Paducah, KY, as an administrator of ship inspections at the Captain of the Port. Mack resigned his commission as a Lieutenant JG in 1975, returned to civilian life, and finished his BS in Education at UT Martin with a major in history.

While living and working in Martin, Mack met and married Eleanor Sue Jones of Martin, and they made Martin their home. Mack worked as a commercial real estate consultant and property manager, an owner-operator for North American Van Lines, and an investor. He was a loyal supporter of his high school classmates, his friends and fellow athletes from college, his Coast Guard friends, and his friends and neighbors in Martin. He stayed in contact with many of them throughout his life. Mack was an influential founding member of UTM’s “Ghosts of the Gridiron” football alumnae group and actively worked to organize events to support UTM’s athletic programs. He was an avid golfer and organized and participated in many golfing outings and trips throughout the years with college and high school friends and family members. He worked as a referee for youth sports programs in West Tennessee, and he coached youth sports teams in Martin, providing a positive influence for many young athletes in the area.

Mack and Eleanor became caregivers for their son Alan, following an automobile accident in 2003 in which Alan sustained a traumatic brain injury. After Eleanor was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2008, Mack managed care for both Alan and Eleanor. He was their primary advocate as he navigated difficult times with love, with a determination to acquire as much knowledge as possible, and with a strong will to do what he could to sustain a positive quality of life for his family.

Sports, music, American and world history, travelling in the USA, politics, Hallmark home movies, and playing bridge were things Mack especially enjoyed. His family and friends were lucky recipients of his music playlists and photo collections.

Mack was predeceased by his wife of 27 years, Eleanor Jones Moody, and by his parents, Martin and Maxine Moody. He is survived by his son, Martin Alan Moody of Dresden, TN; sister Nell Forbus (Gary) of Dallas, TX; sister Barbara Talley of Glendale, CA; nephew Jared Forbus of Los Angeles, CA; nephew Jake Talley of Los Angeles, CA; nephew David Talley (Samantha) of Glendale, CA; great nephew Charles Lee Talley of Glendale, CA; beloved Moody and Gammell cousins; and dear friend Ruth Thetford Scott of Columbia, TN.