Dody Mossman was born and raised in Topeka, Kansas. When asked who was in her family she said, “a momma, a daddy, and my three brothers.” One brother was older and the other two were younger. Dody was “a lucky little girl,” as she puts it, because she did not have to wear hand-me-down clothes.

After asking Dody how she became the person she is today she responded with, “I think I became the person I am today through my upbringing.” Her father was all about location and education, so they lived in the areas where they could go to good schools.

As she reminisced about all the schools she went to, she told me how she moved from Kansas in the third grade to New Jersey. She lived in New Jersey until the late 40’s, then moved to Omaha where she made a lot of friends at Dunning School.

In high school Dody realized that she wanted to become a nurse. After graduation, she studied occupational therapy at the University of Kansas for a couple years, then came home and finished up her schooling at the University of Omaha. She also worked in the restaurant and bar business in Omaha, Nebraska, where she enjoyed cooking, serving drinks, and having entertainment.

When Dody was asked how she ended up living where she lives, she quickly responded with, “I married in 1994 and my husband owned a property here in Decatur, and he got ill. This is where he wanted to be on his last quarter of his years. So we moved to Decatur from Omaha in 2001, because this is where he wanted to be. Thinking I wouldn’t like it here, but I love it here.” They ended up making it seven years here before he passed away.

Dody now has many hobbies which include gardening, playing on the computer, bookkeeping, and working three or four days at the local Green Lantern. After learning about her hobbies, I asked her what her values were and she said, “I believe in being loyal and I value my home and keeping things in order. I value every day I wake up, and I value my work.” She then said she respects what she has accomplished, with her biggest accomplishment being when she had her first and only daughter in 1959.

Soon after her husband passed she got a dog. Now every time you walk into Dody’s house there is a Portuguese Water Dog named Thumper whose birthday is on August 28th. She rescued him from a dog breeder who did not want him. Before she got Thumper all she had was cats, so he was quite a challenge for her. But now he is real docile and a lot of fun, but “lazy sometimes,” she said.

As the interview was coming to an end I asked Dody what advice she would give to the younger generation. She quickly responded with, “Just to go for their wildest dream and don’t give up.”