Martha Blakeney Hodges' Family Visits Reading Room Named for Her in Jackson Library

Betsy Bernard and Daughter Martha Scherer

The University Libraries recently had visit from Betsy Bernard and Luther Hodges, Jr., whose generosity made possible the renovation of the Special Collections Reading Room named for their mother, Martha Blakeney Hodges.  With them were Betsy's daughter Martha, and her husband Eugene, who live in Vienna, Austria and had not seen the Room previously.

Martha Blakeney Hodges ('18) was the first chairperson of the Friends of the Library when the organization was founded in 1959 at what was then Woman's College.  She was also the First Lady of North Carolina at that time.  Her husband Luther Hodges, Sr. was then governor of the state.