Frank Gordon Moody

Dedicated his life to medicine
It seems fitting Dr. Frank Gordon Moody, 88, a man dedicated to the practice of medicine, received a lifetime achievement award shortly before his passing. The American Surgical Association awarded him in April the 2016 Medallion for Advancement of Surgical Care Award.
A well-known surgeon who enjoyed traveling, Moody died Aug. 13 in a hospital in Arvika, Sweden, following a brief illness. Fiancé and companion Inger Ardern was by the 88-year-old's side.
Moody was born May 3, 1928 in Franklin, New Hampshire. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1948 before joining the Army to serve as a paratrooper.
After ending a service in which he was stationed in Japan with the 11th Airborne during the Korean War, Moody enrolled at Dartmouth College to obtain a Bachelor of Science. He then carried out his initial graduate work at Dartmouth Medical School before receiving a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1956 from Cornell University Medical College.
Moody dedicated his life's work to the study of surgical treatments for the diseases of the digestive system. He focused on the subject when he served as the Director of Digestive Surgery at the University of Alabama from 1966 to 71, and when he was the Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Utah from 1971 to 82.
Teaching also was one of Moody's passions. He spent more than 30 years instructing as a professor of surgery at the University of Texas in Houston, where he also served as the second Chair of the Department of Surgery from 1983 to 94.
Moody's life was continually graced by love. He married Barbara Schmelzer in October 1950. They had three children before divorcing. He then found love once more in 1964 when he met and married Maja Stolpe Moody. After his second wife's passing, Moody happily spent his final 11 years with Ardern.
The doctor was an enthusiastic hiker and skier. He also enjoyed the practice of writing and put pen to paper to write autobiography "Frank Reflections," which he recently finished.
Moody is preceded in death by Schmelzer, Maja Moody, parents Fred and Elsie Moody and sister Alice Seaward. He will be missed by Ardern, daughter Anne Mjaatvedt, son Frank Moody and his wife, Christine, and daughter Jane Bjorklund. Moody also leaves behind four grandchildren: Megan Mjaatvedt, Donald Holt, Frances Moody and Rachel Moody.
A small service will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at Larkin Sunset Gardens in Sandy. The University of Texas in Houston also plans to hold a memorial on Nov. 11.
The family asks Moody's friends and loved ones to donate to a charity in lieu of flowers.