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George Dwight Moody Art Dauphin Ralph Emery Moody
Out at 326 N. Sixth St., there is located a garage that you hear a lot about but which to the few who visit the interior is disclosed as the best equipped in this part of the state. It is presided over by G. E. Moody, who owned and operated the first garage in Arkansas City located in the 100 block of North Summit about where Pack’s Café now is. His sons, Dwight and Ralph are active in the management of the Moody Garage today and they do everything from the smallest adjustment to building a car. The Moody family is known far and wide as being skilled mechanically and that they have made a success of their trade is evidenced by their prosperity.
An unidentified child sits in a midget that was one of several race cars built by brothers Dwight and Ralph Moody in their garage and machine shop at Arkansas City, Kansas from the 1920s through the 1950s – Norman Moody collection
Thomas R. “Tommy” Coggins is shown here in a Moody brothers built midget that was owned by his father, Burrell L. Coggins (1908-1981) of Geuda Springs, Kansas. The name “C&M Special” referred to “Coggins and Moody”. The float was for the annual Arkalalah parade at Arkansas City, Kansas – Marvin Thompson collection
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Riverview Cemetery, Arkansas City, Kansas – Bob Lawrence photos
The death of Dwight Moody removed from the scene one of a team of real artisans. Dwight and Ralph operated a machine shop for a long time and their establishment had character. Many of us who depend on machines to earn our daily bread looked to the Moody brothers to fix anything that broke. It has been a comfort to know that a welding job which needed skill and precision could get attention from these men. A visit with Dwight was always rewarding. While Dwight and Ralph were not on the beaten path where they could spend time downtown, they were interested in the city. The Moody brothers have always been members of the Chamber of Commerce. Dwight will be missed by many of us, but we can look to Ralph to carry on.
Arkansas City Daily Traveler – 1965
Humble Beginnings
(Robert J. Eaton, Chairman and CEO of Daimler-Chrysler Corp. 1993-2000)
Mr. Eaton's folksy, pragmatic approach stems from his roots in the small town of Arkansas City, Kansas, near the Oklahoma border, where he returned recently to speak at the high school graduation. The son of a railroad worker and a beautician, Mr. Eaton delivered newspapers, worked at Montgomery Ward, and spent his spare time hanging out at Bay's junkyard and Moody's Machine Shop, two Arkansas City mainstays. At age 11*, he bought his first car, a Chevrolet for $10.00 and spent another $15.00 to make it run. He studied engineering at the University of Kansas because he loved cars, and he landed a job at GM....it was the only company he chose to interview with.
Wall Street Journal – October 4, 1993
* In a story in the November 15, 1998 issue of the Detroit News claims that Eaton purchased his first car, “a dilapidated 1932 Ford” at the age of 9 and that he had owned 10 cars and 12 motorcycles by the time he finished high school.
