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College Mourns Death of Sara Bernice Moseley  The
Austin College community lost a treasured and much-beloved friend with
the death of Sara Bernice Moseley, 95, on July 19. Her contributions to
the life of the College and the thousands of alumni, faculty, staff,
and friends she has touched are beyond measure. The community offers
heartfelt condolences to her family, including three children, Sara
Caroline, John, and Rebecca, and their spouses, plus four grandchildren
and seven great-grandchildren.
Services are pending and details will be forthcoming. For a quarter of a century, 1953 to 1978, Mrs. Moseley served the Austin College and Sherman communities as first lady of Austin College while her late husband John D. Moseley served as one of the most successful and forward-thinking leaders in the College’s history. Upon his retirement in 1978, he spent three years as chancellor, at which time the Moseleys built a home in Sherman and remained on Grand Avenue, right across from the College. Since that time, Mrs. Moseley has been a welcome participant in nearly every major activity at the College—through the arrival of three new presidents to the College. Her home on Grand Avenue gave her a view of the College and her interest in its students and their activities never waned. She watched with excitement as construction changed the face of the campus just outside her front door—from the Sandra J. Williams Founders Plaza to the cottages of the Village on Grand that brought her many new student neighbors that she delighted to see. This May, she attended her 60th Commencement exercises, as proud of the graduates today as she was when her husband presented the graduates’ diplomas. Sara Bernice’s love for the College, established as she served as First Lady, continued throughout all her remaining years,” said Austin College President Marjorie Hass. “She helped welcome me to the Austin College family and was a great advisor and friend to me.” Mrs. Moseley was a trailblazing Presbyterian woman. In 1965, she became the first woman elected as a ruling elder of First Presbyterian Church, Sherman. In 1975, she became the first woman in the Presbyterian Church in the United States to be endorsed by a presbytery for moderator of the General Assembly, the highest elected official of the church, and in 1978, Mrs. Moseley became the first woman elected moderator of the General Assembly. In that role, she was an instrumental figure in the reunion of the two major branches of the Presbyterian Church, which came about in 1983. She served as co-chair of Friends for Reunion in 1981-1982 and as the first chair of the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1983-1984. Reporting on an interview after she was elected moderator in 1978, The Presbyterian Outlook quoted Mrs. Moseley as holding two “profound hopes” for the Presbyterian Church: one, that “God will equip His people in effective ways to live out their faith,” and two, that “with the integrity of the Presbyterian system, we will keep the church open to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.” Born Sara Bernice Honea, a native of Anson, Texas, Mrs. Moseley served as vice president of the Synod of Texas Youth Council in 1935. (The president that year was a young man named John D. Moseley.) She graduated from Texas State College for Women (now Texas Woman’s University) in 1937 with a B.A. in music. She studied further at the University of Michigan and the University of Texas. She married John D. Moseley in 1941. She was 34 years old when the couple moved to Sherman in 1953, when her husband was appointed the 12th president of Austin College. Austin College named Mrs. Moseley an honorary alumna in 1974, and she received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the College in 1978. TWU named Mrs. Moseley a distinguished alumna in 1977, and she was named the American Association of University Women’s Outstanding Woman in Sherman in 1980. The Austin College Board of Trustees approved the establishment of the Sara Bernice Moseley Scholarships for Outstanding Presbyterian Students in 1995, recognizing Mrs. Moseley’s contributions to the church and the College. In 2002, The Moseleys’ nearly 50 years of service to the College were recognized with the dedication of the College Green in Honor of John D. and Sara Bernice Moseley and Distinguished Faculty. In 2012, the Board of Trustees approved the naming of the John D. and Sara Bernice Moseley Covenant Society, which recognizes individuals who have included Austin College in their estate planning. For those of the College community who had the privilege to know her, no amount of recognition and honor are sufficient to memorialize the graciousness and loyalty of the quintessential First Lady of Austin College. She will be greatly missed. Biography Index Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |