Mauney Family Values

For the Mauney sisters, fall Saturdays once meant piling into the car with their parents and traveling to Lenoir-Rhyne football games — a rhythm of family, tradition and cheering for the Bears. To conclude the 2025 season, they chose to relive those memories while embracing a chance to bring their families together. With help from the alumni and advancement offices, the gathering came together quickly. On Nov. 15, Martha Mauney Moses ’63, Caroline Mauney ’65, Anna Mauney Spence ’70 and Harriet Mauney Cordray ’72 watched the game from the president’s suite in Moretz Stadium, surrounded by children, grandchildren and friends. 

Better still, they picked the right game. LR’s matchup with Catawba College turned into a nailbiter, keeping the entire suite on edge until the last seconds. For a family that can recite decades of Bears football history, the excitement felt like a gift.

“Daddy loved LR so much,” Caroline said. “I used to tell him, ‘Daddy, when you go to heaven, you’re going to go to Lenoir-Rhyne.’”

Their father, David Rudisill Mauney Jr. ’36 — known as “Red” during his undergraduate years and DR after — first arrived at LR during the Great Depression because his mother, Laura Lassiter Perry Mauney, worked as a campus dietician, which enabled the family to afford tuition. He was active on campus as class president his junior year, and he made a name for himself as an accomplished athlete in two sports – football and baseball.

“He was a quarterback in high school and joined the team at Lenoir-Rhyne — number 12. He was small and very fast,” Martha explained. He developed such a close relationship with his teammate, future legendary coach Clarence Stasavich ’35, whom the sisters still affectionately call “Stas.”

“My mother claimed she taught Stas to dance,” Caroline said.

Martha added, “Daddy was a good football player, and he was a better baseball player. During the Depression, jobs were so scarce, but the cotton mills had baseball teams. So, at a time when nobody was hiring, he got hired at one of the mills because they wanted him on their baseball team.”

After graduating in 1936, DR started and grew his own textile company in his hometown of Cherryville, North Carolina, but his true legacy extended far beyond business. He served on numerous civic boards in Cherryville and Gaston County — as well as a stint in the North Carolina General Assembly. He also gave back to his alma mater with years of service on the Board of Trustees and the Alumni Association, which made him an early recipient of the Lenoir Rhyne Distinguished Alumni Award. 

“Daddy was president of the alumni association for multiple years. Mother was a secretary for the alumni association. They really helped it get off the ground,” Martha said. The whole family appeared on the cover of the May 1953 Alumni Bulletin.

DR’s influence at LR echoes through the generations in a less conventional way. As a leader of Cherryville’s local Boy Scout troop, he mentored the young leaders of the community, most notably Mickey Payseur ’73, current chair of the board of trustees. Among many gestures of support and encouragement over the years, DR advised Payseur through his Eagle Scout project. 

“We like to claim Mickey as part of our family,” Caroline said. “Daddy used to ask him where he was going to college, and LR was the only answer.”

Mary Frances Bagby Mauney ’35 was just as active at LR and in Cherryville. “She was an English teacher and guidance counselor at Cherryville High School. She was a Girl Scout leader, helped get the public library in Cherryville, and she wrote the history of Cherryville,” said Harriet. “She had that way about her that kids just gravitated to.”

Caroline added, “Mom didn’t get all the awards, but Daddy couldn’t have done all the things he did without her.”

While the campus buildings that bear the Mauney name originated thanks to DR’s cousins, he and Mary Frances continue to support LR students through an endowed scholarship bearing both their names. A scholarship in Martha’s honor is currently in development — a tribute to her years of alumni service, class leadership and lifelong dedication to the university.

Service and education became the sisters’ inheritance. Martha, Caroline and Anna all became educators, carrying forward the value their parents placed on learning. Harriet pursued social service work, serving as a guardian ad litem adoption investigator — a role that shaped the lives of countless children and families.

“Both our parents believed strongly in education,” Anna said. “And nobody ever questioned if we were going to college — or where!”

Harriet remembered arriving on campus as a first-year student with a simple dream. “I came to LR to meet my future,” she said, remembering her alma mater as the place that set her course and shaped the life she built. Martha added, “Lenoir-Rhyne took care of a lot of people — there’s just a wealth of lore in this place.”

Today, the family legacy continues through Martha’s children, David Mauney Phillips ’88 and Lura Phillips Cummings ’90. Their stories loop back to the Bears who came before them. 

Like his namesake, David showed an aptitude for business. He majored in accounting and has spent his career in accounting and management for Shaw Industries. Also like his grandfather, David earned his Eagle Scout status and later mentored young scouts, including own son, to mark three generations of Eagles in the Mauney family.

Lura was named for her great-grandmother — the former LR dietician — and now works as a high-school nutrition services manager. Like her ancestor, she is an accomplished seamstress, another thread tying generations together. Among other accomplishments, Lura made her mark at LR cheering for the Bears and may have been the first woman to wear the Joe Bear mascot costume.

Across generations, the Mauney family has poured their time, talent and heart into LR — supporting students, cheering on teams, showing up for concerts and lectures, and treating campus as an extension of home. Their story is woven through the university’s history in ways both visible and quietly enduring.

Through the years, game day became a shorthand for the family’s devotionto LR, to each other and to the traditions that anchored their lives. “Daddy believed if you missed the kickoff you might as well not go,” Anna recalled. “And you had to stay to the end.”