Graceful, gentle, elegant, and beautiful are just a few words that describe Mary Baldwin Woodland, and I can think of many more. She doesn’t like to talk about herself, but with some gentle prodding, she courteously agreed to share her fascinating story. She loves music and started at an early age, singing for thousands at a church revival, accompanied by her mother on the piano. Mary knew music was what she wanted to do with her life and pursued an education at Wesleyan College, majoring in voice and conducting and completing her masters at LSU.
The summer of 1952 brought the best music students in the nation to the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, MA., the summer home of the Boston Symphony. An eight-week immersion in music and specialized training, individual analysis, and criticism. Leonard Bernstein was there that summer, teaching and working on his first opera. Mary and her friends would pile on his old convertible jalopy and catch a ride to their boarding house in town. She remembers picnic lunches under the trees, the marvelous climate, and the saturation in music she experienced. A quick internet search revealed an archived schedule and program with rehearsal times, picnic suppers, waltzing on the lawn, and both of Mary’s opera performances.
New York was the next stop for Mary, hoping for an audition with the Metropolitan Opera. She took a job at a local church, rented a room at a hotel for women run by the Salvation Army, and began to practice and work. She was in the middle of lessons and auditions when she received an unexpected phone call that changed her well thought out future. The dean of music at Stetson University in Florida called to offer her a job. She told me this was not in her plans; it was a different line of thought, and she had to sleep on it. Mary Woodland doesn’t make rash decisions, and after thinking this through, she decided to take the job. We talked about how New York was not a guarantee, and the idea of a stable job was very appealing. She taught voice, voice pedagogy, Italian diction, and was head of the opera department for four years. She loved to teach.
Another love was on the horizon, unknown to Mary, God was planning a twist in her well thought out plan. Lamar College called with the offer of a position, and she went for the interview. On her way back to Florida, she stopped to visit her former LSU professor, who just happened to know a young man who would also be teaching at Lamar. When Naiman met Mary, he was smitten at first sight. He asked her out for coffee, and before she knew it, she was meeting his family. Mary, the planner, had to do some thinking about this course of events, and it took a summer of letter writing before she decided her future.
They took the jobs at Lamar and married in the dome church a year later. She tells a beautiful story about their lives together. Shared interests in music, opera, and history, two children she is proud of, and a lifetime of doing the things she loves best. Music is how she prays and worships, it inspires her, and it is how she serves God. She doesn’t have a favorite piece, but believes music that praises God, crosses all boundaries and she loves it all. She told me music that is made to worship God should always be the most exceptional music, the best we can possibly make it. I am inspired every Sunday when I see her standing in the choir loft, face radiating, singing from her heart, giving her best to God.
Story and Photography by Michelle Holland