Mary Florence Woody, MA, RN, FAAN, died of congestive heart failure on April 28, at her senior living residence in Decatur, Georgia, at the age of 84. After high school, Woody joined the World War II Cadet Nurse Corps training offered at Charity Hospital School of Nursing in New Orleans. After working as a medical-surgical staff nurse at the Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi, and caring for polio patients at the Willard Parker Hospital in New York City, Woody went to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta in 1956, where she helped improve patient care by promoting patient education and implementing the idea that all patients should have an RN responsible for their care. Woody was also one of a handful of white nurses who led the integration of the American Nurses Association. In 1968, she became the director of nursing at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where she helped create a diabetes day care program using NPs, a nurse midwifery service, specialized nurserun clinics, and a patient education program. She returned to Emory University Hospital in 1984 as director of nursing and associate dean of the School of Nursing. She was also a founding member of the American Academy of Nursing, founding dean of Auburn University's School of Nursing, and distinguished emeritus professor of nursing at Emory University. In 1978, Woody was elected chairperson of the board of directors of AJN. Former AJN editor Thelma Schorr, BSN, RN, FAAN, said of her, "Mary Woody was a superb administrator and educator, and many of today's nursing administrators owe the honing of their talents to her." In 1997, the American Academy of Nursing honored her with its Living Legend Award.