Emily L. Woody; Developed ‘Phonetic Rock’

Emily Larkin Woody, a veteran Los Angeles Unified School District teacher who created an innovative recorded learn-to-read package called “Phonetic Rock,” has died. She was 77.

“The death of Emily Woody is a great loss to everyone involved,” Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley stated in a message read at her memorial service. “Her life, her commitment and her concern for others is a legacy she leaves for all to emulate.”

She died Feb. 1 in her Los Angeles home of a heart attack, her daughter, Claudia Thomas of Austin, Tex., announced Thursday.

Also known as a civil rights leader, Mrs. Woody founded the American Council of Human Rights, which sponsored a speech contest for young people called “What Does My Vote Mean?” She also was a member of the executive board of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

Retiring in 1962 as a teacher and counselor, Mrs. Woody began developing the “Phonetic Rock” program to teach children and adults to read within a short time. Her system was produced and distributed in 1972 by Sussex Records, the company that first achieved major success with rock singer Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me.”

The reading program was later marketed by Mrs. Woody’s own company, Multi-Learning Enlistment Inc. She was active in sales and distribution of the educational system package until her death. “Children all used to read. . . . Then they stopped teaching phonics--and children stopped reading,” Mrs. Woody told the Los Angeles Times when the program was released.

“Teachers must understand that each child needs to learn to stress the beginning sounds of whole words and the vowel sounds inside words,” she said. “They must learn to place their lips silently in the proper position; when they look at a ‘W,’ they must know automatically that it requires they purse their lips.”

Mrs. Woody, who wrote 32 songs for the reading program, also wrote and recorded the narration.

“I have taught in black schools, in mixed black and Mexican-American schools and in predominantly white schools,” said Mrs. Woody, who earned two life California teaching credentials and one state psychometric credential. “And I have found that all children have the same need to read. Learning begins with reading; the way out of the ghetto begins with reading.”

A native of Los Angeles, Mrs. Woody was graduated from Jefferson High School and UCLA, and obtained her master’s degree from Loyola University in Los Angeles.