Mary V. Dodge was born Mary Bourne Thompson in 1876 in Arkansas. As a child, she was introduced to the violin while attending a school run by Catholic nuns; the instrument became so important to her that she later changed her middle initial to "V," for "Violin." She moved to Portland, Oregon, in the 1890s, where she taught at the Shattuck School. In 1910, she married Mott Dodge, a civil engineer. Soon after, the couple moved to Burns, Oregon, when Mott Dodge got a job platting roads. While in Burns, Mary V. Dodge played violin for the local children, and then established a children's orchestra, the Sagebrush Symphony Orchestra. The Sagebrush Symphony played its first concert in Burns in 1912, and in subsequent years toured throughout Oregon. These tours were interrupted by the United States' entry into World War I, and the orchestra disbanded when Dodge moved back to Portland in 1918.

In Portland, Dodge became the music director at Irvington School. In 1923, she engaged Russian immigrant Jacques Gershkovitch to lead this orchestra, which became the Portland Junior Symphony (later the Portland Youth Philharmonic) and gave its first public performance on February 14, 1925. Dodge continued to teach violin. She died on New Year's Eve, 1954.

Sources: Articles in the Oregonian, 1925-1984; "Recollections of Mary V. Dodge" by Janet Dodge Martin, Portland Youth Philharmonic, https://portlandyouthphil.org/blog/blog/recollections-of-janet-dodge-martin/576; "Sagebrush Symphony" by Kathy Tucker, Oregon Encyclopedia, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/sage_brush_symphony/; "Portland Youth Philharmonic" by James McQuillen, Oregon Encyclopedia, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/portland_youth_philharmonic/