Much of the hustle and bustle of Liberty University’s campus is due to the students traveling from one building to another, attending classes or spiritual gatherings multiple times a week. Day in and day out, these buildings are the foundation and framework behind each student’s academic journey. The names of these buildings come from people who have impacted Liberty’s campus and mission, and this new series “Building a Legacy” will shed light on the people whom our campus buildings are named after.
David Green, founder of Hobby Lobby, donated a campus building to Liberty University in 2003 and named it after his mother, Marie F. Green. Today, that building is filled with many students in its halls studying in fields spanning from strategic communication and digital media to film and studio arts.
According to a display at the main entrance of Green Hall, Marie first met her husband Walter Green in 1933. Together they embarked on a life dedicated to spreading the gospel. They lived in a number of different states during their lifetime, including Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, and they both served in ministry fervently by planting many different churches throughout the U.S.
The couple had six children: three boys and three girls. Amid the family’s severe financial struggles, Marie took up the work of crocheting doilies to raise money for the various ministries that she contributed to building alongside her family.
Five of the Green children would later go into paths relating to ministry — all except David. In high school, he enrolled in his school’s Distributive Education Club of America (DECA) program, spurring on his interest in business, according to Oklahoma Baptist University.
In 1970, what is now known as the popular craft store, Hobby Lobby, was born out of David’s garage. The humble beginning started out as a family business, with his children getting paid 7 cents apiece to glue frames together to sell. Two years later, the business moved into its first brick-and-mortar location, a 600-square-foot store in Oklahoma City. This start-up would eventually turn into a multi-billion-dollar company with more than 1,000 stores throughout the country, according to billygraham.org.
Early on, when Hobby Lobby began to gain traction, David’s mother Marie always had the same reaction to her son’s successes: she was always most concerned with what her son was doing for the Lord.
“I’m proud of my mom and that’s just true for all of us,” Green said in a speaking event at Victory Church in 2025. “What are you doing for the Lord? That’s what really matters … and that’s what made a difference in my life.”
The Green family later came to know great success, but their unwavering priority to give their blessings back to the Lord through tithes and offerings was always at the forefront. This conviction of serving God while living in the world reflects Liberty’s motto of building up young believers to use their vocational calling to bring others to the gospel message.
“In the Lord’s economy … God sees things so much differently than we do,” David said at the same speaking event. “God saw my mother as someone that was very, very faithful. He loved her and she saw angels in her last minutes of life. And so that’s the way I want to pass away, that’s the way I want to leave this life. I want to leave it to where I’m very wealthy — as wealthy as my mother.”
In 2004, Marie’s grandson Steve Green took over the family business and became president of Hobby Lobby. Since then, the family legacy has continued with other Spirit-led initiatives including opening the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. which opened roughly two months after Steve appeared on Liberty’s Convocation stage in September 2017.
As more students arrive on Liberty Mountain each year to begin their higher education and training in various fields, testimonies like the Green family’s serve as a reminder of the generations-long blessing that comes when one dedicates their life’s work to an eternal cause. When followers of Jesus obediently step forward into the unique plan that he has for each of his children, the blessing that will result is just a snapshot of the glory that’s to come.
Hagen is the feature editor for the Liberty Champion.