Ann Margaret (Smith) Coody

B.A. 1959

Ann Margaret (Smith) Coody was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on December 12, 1937. Her father’s United States Air Force career took the family to New Braunfels and San Antonio, 德州, where she graduated from Alamo Heights High School in 1955. 毕业后, she enrolled in Hardin-Simmons University, but went with her family following her freshman year to Tachikawa Air Force Base, 东京附近, 日本. 在那里呆了一年之后, she returned to Hardin-Simmons, where she graduated in August 1959 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in speech with a minor in English.

As a student at Hardin-Simmons, Ann was a member of the Baptist Student Union Greater Council, 生活服务乐队, Pi Kappa Delta, and served as Student Education Assistant. She was a member of the Speech and Drama Club and was vice president of the University Players her senior year.

During the summer of 1958, she was a summer missionary in Hilo, 夏威夷. Ann also served on the South Hall Dorm Council as secretary in 1958 and as junior representative in 1959, and was named to Who’s Who in American 大学 and Universities that same year.

8月8日, 1959, 安嫁给了戴尔·库迪, who earned the Bachelor of Science degree from HSU in 1959. Ann served with Dale as he led Southern Baptist churches in 德州, 俄克拉何马州, 和夏威夷, as music and education director. They have also served as evangelistic singers in revivals and concerts in 德州, 俄克拉何马州, 夏威夷, and throughout the mid-west and southern states.

In 1960, Ann and Dale welcomed their son 杰夫, and in 1962, their daughter 尼娜 was born.

Ann began her career in education in 1961, 在西格雷夫斯教书, Refugio, 和横行, 德州, before the young family moved to Tulsa, 俄克拉何马州, where she taught at Berryhill School. They later moved to 劳顿, 俄克拉何马州, where Ann was a teacher, 辅导员, and assistant principal for the 劳顿 Public 学校.

在劳顿的时候, Ann earned a Master of Education degree in guidance counseling and a principal and superintendent certification from the University of 俄克拉何马州. Ann retired as principal of 劳顿 MacArthur High School in June 2000, after 39 years as an educator.

Elected to her first term in 2004, Ann is now beginning her fifth term in the 俄克拉何马州 House of Representatives from District 64, 劳顿, 俄克拉何马州. She is chair of the Common Education Committee and a member of the Appropriations and Budget Committee, the Appropriations and Budget Education Subcommittee, and the 退伍军人 and 军事 Affairs Committee.

She was appointed by the Speaker of the House as a commissioner to the Education Commission of the States, as a member of the Education Oversight Board, the Achieving Classroom Excellence Steering Committee, and the 俄克拉何马州 State Council for Educational Opportunity for 军事 Children. Ann served as majority caucus secretary in 2007-2008, is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, and serves various national legislative groups.

Among Ann’s many honors, she was named Representative of the Year by the 俄克拉何马州 退伍军人 Council in 2007-2008 and again in 2012. She received the Veteran’s Hero Award from the 退伍军人 of Foreign Wars in 2008 and the 2009 Distinguished Service Award from the 俄克拉何马州 Regents for Higher Education. The 俄克拉何马州 Council of Economic Education awarded her the Friend of Economic Education Award in 2008, 2009年, she was awarded the 俄克拉何马州 Farm Bureau Meritorious Service Award, and the Southwest 俄克拉何马州 Partnership for Mental Health Award. In 2011, she received the Americans United for Life Award.

Ann further serves the community as a member of the Comanche County Retired Educators Association and the 俄克拉何马州 Retired Educators Association.

Ann and Dale are members of First Baptist Church of Grandfield, 俄克拉何马州, and live on a farm east of 劳顿, where Dale is also a rancher, having raised dairy cattle, 牛肉, 鸵鸟, 长颈鹿, 羚羊, 鳄鱼, and other exotic animals. He currently raises Savanna goats.

他们的女儿, 尼娜, who attended Hardin-Simmons from 1980 to 1982, is an intermediate school principal in Boyd, 德州. 他们的儿子, 杰夫, who completed the Bachelor of Business 政府 degree at HSU in 1982, is an insurance agent in 劳顿 and former U.S. 海军飞行员. Ann and Dale have three grandchildren.

It is the high honor of Hardin-Simmons University to recognize one of her own and to formally induct Ann Margaret (Smith) Coody into the HSU 领袖堂.