Mom’s Service Built A Family, And A Community
Edition of Thursday-Friday, Dec. 4-5, 2014
Editor’s Note: Family and friends of Joan Moyer, the former Oneonta school board president and civic leader who passed away July 28, gathered over Thanksgiving for a memorial mass. This is an excerpt from the eulogy delivered by her son, Scott, raised in Oneonta but now living with his family in San Mateo, Calif.
One of my favorite memories from my childhood involves my dad driving the boat and my mom on the waterskis. Mom was not a daredevil or a thrill seeker, she was a person who saw something that looked fun and said, I’ll give it a try. She taught me that life is about enjoying our time together, the joy of the opportunities we’re given, and about wonders that we find around every corner.
In my teenage years, I’m sad to admit, I didn’t understand my mom at all. I’d come home from school, and she would have a million questions about my day. She seemed to mistakenly think that my life was far more interesting than it actually was.
What I came to realize was that mom didn’t see my life as I did. Mom saw possibility and potential in me long before I was able to see it for myself. Like God, my mom was loving me into the person I was created to be. She never settled for the limits of my imagination.
As I moved out into the world, I learned that God’s love and my mom’s love is not limited by time and space. God loves each one of us individually in every moment, and it is that love that literally holds us in existence.
My mom shared that love by letting me know that she was always remembering me and loving me. How many of us received a handwritten note or a newspaper clipping that my mom sent just because she was thinking of us. She cherished every relationship, when you were apart you knew you were not forgotten; when you were together, you knew there was no where else she wanted to be.
…My mom’s service was a quiet service, not seeking recognition or reward. Whether it was driving us kids around town for countless activities, or making dad a smoothy, or planning a family reunion, or making a dish for the bereavement committee, or working for the Executive Service Corp, or gathering her book club.
We were all on the receiving end of her service. It was a service that drew us in, made us feel at home, made us feel valued, made us feel special. It was a service that built family and community. A service that bound us together in love.