Woody Sez
Mary Josephine Edgmon

Woody Guthrie's little sister
December 24,1922 - March 16, 2019
"To me you'll always be the prettiest little sister a brother ever had. Here's to your long life and all of your dreams, always stay awake and keep dreaming because hope is the gasoline that runs the machinery of this life.  - your brother, Woody"
Woody and Mary Jo
Woody and
Mary Jo ca. 1927

Mary Jo Edgmon
Mary Jo Edgmon holding Woody's book, "Born To Win", 1966
Nicknamed "Tinkin" by Woody, Mary Jo lived in Seminole, Oklahoma for most of her adult life.  Throughout her life, she was Woody's biggest advocate in a state often critical of Woody's politics and for years sometimes scorned. 

Mary Jo took it upon herself to correct that mis-guided opinion, and educate people by giving public talks and school programs on Woody's life, sharing and celebrating his national and global successes and stature, creating folk art based on his life story, and writing a wonderful book "WOODY'S ROAD: Woody's Letters Home, Drawings, Photos, and Other Unburied Treasures", a collaboration with Guthrie historian Guy Logsdon.
Mary Jo Edgmon
Mary Jo Edgmon speaking about Woody in her church, 1966.
Woody's Road
Mary Jo Edgmon's book,"Woody's Road", 2012.
In the forward to her book, her nephew Arlo wrote:

"No one knows how many people it takes to become who we are. I am thrilled to see my Aunt Mary Jo collect her life's memories and share them with everyone. They are precious. My father could not have had a better person to confide in and share his life with than his little sister. Her kindness, humor, and genuine Oklahoma sensibilities have made her brother more accessible to friends and neighbors in his own backyard.
It is difficult to be a prophet in your own country. But with a little sister like my Aunt Mary Jo, it was not impossible for my father to become just that." - Arlo Guthrie
Mary Jo Edgmon
Mary Jo Edgmon and Mrs. Earl Davidson in front of the window display for the Pioneer Celebration Week, one of the earliest tributes to Woody in his hometown of Okemah, OK, 1966.
My auntie was a gem!
- Nora Guthrie

Nora Guthrie and Mary Jo Edgmon
Nora Guthrie with her aunt Mary Jo at
the Guthrie home in Queens, NY.

Perfectly mirroring her soul, she loved rhinestone glasses, she loved everything with bling, everything that sparkled and - a little known trait - she loved all things pink! 

We celebrate a life very well lived, in service to many, and  thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who had the luck of standing next to her, sharing witticisms and jokes with her, and well, just goofing around with her. Because, with Mary Jo, it was always about the great FUN of LIVING and LOVING.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Woody Guthrie Festival Coalition.
"And I will never dread the day I will die, 
'Cause my sunset is somebody's morning sky"
- "My Battle" by Woody Guthrie
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