Elizabeth Moses - 1964-2018

Sumter community remembers devoted friend who helped create museum

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With the death last week of Elizabeth Moses, her family, the Sumter community and friends across the state and the country lost a devoted and giving friend, a historian, an animal lover and advocate, a mentor and a loved one.

Dale Rosengarten, director of the Jewish Heritage Collection at the College of Charleston and associate director of the Center for Southern Jewish Culture, delivered the eulogy at Ms. Moses' memorial service.

"We ache with her death because, whether we knew her as daughter, sister, colleague, co-worker, friend, mentor or prayer leader, she was a loved one," Rosengarten said. "In all the roles she played, under all the hats she wore, she never let anyone down. Elizabeth would do for you and go as far for you as she could, and then go some more.

"Elizabeth was proud of her heritage and devoted to her family, but her most outstanding characteristic, in my opinion, was her commitment to truth-telling. She was one of those people who cannot tell a lie, or even a half truth. She told it like she saw it and would not hesitate to point out when the emperor had no clothes.

"She also had a keen sense of humor, a deep interest in history and a way with words."

The youngest of five daughters of Robert A. Moses and the late Harriett P. Moses, Elizabeth held degrees in science from Wofford College and the University of Massachusetts and spent 20 years working with marine life and 10 as interpretive ranger with historic houses for the S.C. Parks Service. Other careers included writing, editing and photography.

She was a longtime member of the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina and worked for the Jewish Heritage Collection and the Jewish Studies Program at the College of Charleston.

In Sumter, she served as a staff chaplain at Palmetto Health Tuomey.

Her most recent position was as education and outreach coordinator with Sumter County Museum.

Museum director Annie Rivers and staff called her "a wonderful addition to the museum (who) played a major role in helping to bring the Temple Sinai Jewish History Center to fruition. She will be greatly missed."

Michael Mellen met Ms. Moses when he was a student rabbi in Sumter in 1996-97.

He recalled, "While she grew up exposed to Judaism and was part of the Sumter Jewish community, she grew up identifying as Christian and going to church. She had grown more and more sure that she wanted to be Jewish. I do remember two elements from the experience. The first was her Beit Din, the meeting with three people, including me and the Rabbi, who ask a series of questions about Jewish knowledge and her desire to be Jewish. She was clearly ready. The second was how she did her mikveh, the submersion in water that represents the shift she was making.

"She chose to do this in the Atlantic Ocean off a North Carolina beach. I was not there. It was her moment, and she chose how to do it. She brought me two perfect stones from the beach, which I still have.

" when I think about her, I remember her caring and warmth, along with her creativity and passion."

Cathy Smith volunteered to survey dolphins for Coastal Carolina University almost two decades ago. She said Ms. Moses was training graduate students "to study dolphins in the waters off Georgetown County ... once you went out on the water with Elizabeth you were there all day, no matter what the circumstances. (She) took her job seriously. She loved being in nature, and she could find those marvelous creatures because she knew them so well."

The friendship grew over the years, Smith said, as they "shared a love of animals. She was the person who would not let a cat suffer and would sacrifice things for herself to care for an animal. Her compassion was overflowing.

"I will always remember Elizabeth as a sensitive, kind and caring person. She gave her all to the things in life that mattered. She was fiercely independent. She loved her family and her friends. She was a loyal friend to the end.

"As Dr. Rob Young, her supervisor at CCU, told me, 'She had a rich and meaningful life. I admired her passion and will miss it.'"

Beyond her professional achievements, Ms. Moses' sisters recall her great love for family and animals - her writing a letter to Santa "heart-wringingly detailing how her life would be so much better if only she could have a dear dog for her friend resulting in her being given a sweet dog she named Lassie - the first pet in our lifetimes that was allowed inside the house."

She was into family genealogy, they said, and kept up family ties. "Lizzie was deeply devoted to all the generations of her relatives, and particularly including her brothers-in-law, and her niece and nephews, and great-nieces and -nephews. She liked being in touch with them, was grand about remembering their birthdays, and always took time to stay in touch. She welcomed all the younger relatives."

Rosengarten, delivering Ms. Moses' eulogy at Temple Sinai, said, "Temple Sinai's Jewish History Center is a wonder to behold: an inspired re-purposing of synagogue space as an educational facility, developed with extraordinary speed, efficiency and sense of beauty.

"My dear friend Elizabeth died far too young. Few of us can know how long we have here on Earth. We don't know the trials and misfortunes that will test us along the way. Elizabeth knew! It would have been easy for her to become bitter and hardened, or to surrender to self-pity and regret. But you did not hear that, and you did not see that from Elizabeth. The fact is her struggles with illness made her more acutely aware of the plight of others. She would answer the phone at work, and it was not unusual to hear her comfort the person on the other end: 'I'm sorry for your loss. I hope you're feeling better. How can I help you?'"

"Alas, Elizabeth was not given the gift of time. She had more work to do, more dogs and cats to rescue, more pen pals to befriend, more ports to visit. But in her 54 short years she created a lasting legacy - at the College of Charleston, in Georgetown, in the sanctuary where we now sit, and in the hearts of each of us."

Elizabeth Moses is survived by her father, Robert A. Moses and his wife, Clara G. Moses; her sisters, Natalie Moses (Douglas Klaucke), Carol Moses (David Vasconcelos), Katherine Royer (Brad Royer) and Laura Moses; her nieces and nephews; great-nieces and -nephews; as well as her great uncle, Herbert A. Moses; and numerous cousins. In accordance with Jewish tradition, she was buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Sumter with family in attendance.

Donations can be made to the Sumter SPCA, Temple Sinai Jewish History Center, the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina, Temple Beth Elohim (Georgetown), the Sumter County Museum or to a charity of one's choice.