Born on her parents’ farm in Nash, NC on October 2, 1863, Viola Boddie attended Littleton College in North Carolina and taught at Henderson College. She then won a scholarship in 1889 to the Normal School at Nashville, TN, (now Peabody College,) where she earned a degree with teaching certificate in 1891. She returned to her home state and taught for a year in Asheville before being hired in 1892 by Charles McIver to be head of the Department of Latin and head of the Department of French at a salary of $750. This salary was raised to $864 for the year beginning October 1, 1893 and to $900 for the following year.
One of the original 15 faculty members at the institution, Viola Boddie taught in the Department of Latin (formerly the Department of Ancient and Modern Languages) for 43 years, giving up the headship and teaching part-time in her last year before retiring in 1935. She died on March 20, 1940 at age 76.
[Abridged from a biographical file written by professor emerita Dr. Susan Shelmerdine, originally published here]