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- Online Obituary - Carolyn Mae (Wilder) Moran - An undaunted spirt 1917 - 2011 - SENECA FALLS/N. PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA - Carolyn Wilder Moran, widow of former Reveille "Different Drum" columnist and Seneca Falls native Emerson D. Moran, passed away in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. on March 12, 2011. She was 94 and under hospice care. Burial next to her husband will be 2 p.m. Saturday (May 28) at Rest Vale Cemetery, Seneca Falls. Carolyn Mae Wilder was born Feb. 12, 1917 to parents Tracy H. and Lois P. Wilder of Syracuse and Pulaski, N.Y. Carolyn was born and raised in Syracuse. In her teens, she was first violinist of the Syracuse Youth Symphony. At 17, she met Emerson, brother of her high school English teacher, at meetings of the Oxford Group, a 1930s interdenominational, evangelical antidote to the period's general despair. In their 1979 memoir, "A Love Story for Old Age," he recalled her as "a brown-eyed girl with an innocence and joyful radiance that set me a-goggling." They married a year later; she was 18, he was 25. He died in 2004; they were married 69 years. Over the decades, war, family and work concerns led them from upstate New York to Madison, Wis.; Miami, Fla.; Tucson, Ariz.; and Los Angeles, Calif. In 1980, in retirement, they returned to the Finger Lakes of their origins, settling in Romulus before moving into the old Gould Hotel in downtown Seneca Falls. Eventually they relocated to the renovated First Ward School, taking an apartment in what nearly 80 years earlier had been Emerson's kindergarten class room. Carolyn, meanwhile, in her late 60s reinvented herself as a small business entrepreneur, designing and marketing a distinctive piece of motivational jewelry inspired by the nut-like pin that secures a helicopter's main rotor to the mast. The notion came from son Michael, onetime Navy helicopter pilot, who told her that helicopter pilots everywhere call it the "Jesus Nut," because "it holds the whole thing together." An astronaut carried one of Carolyn's miniature The Jesus Nuts® during a spacewalk; Ukrainian Christians wore them as a symbol of their illegal faith; Desert Storm soldiers took them into battle. Carolyn and Emerson were profiled in Norman Vincent Peale's Guideposts magazine and appeared on TV's "PTL Club" and Pat Robertson's "700 Club." In Seneca Falls, Carolyn was a member of the Fortnightly Club, active in the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, and local charities. Emerson for a dozen years wrote "Different Drum," a weekly column of opinion and commentary about life in and around Seneca Falls. They later moved to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, to be near family. The Jesus Nut® business was taken up by daughter Pat when Carolyn's caring for her husband superseded all else. Over her long life Carolyn reached beyond traditional roles prescribed for women of her era. She was a business entrepreneur, church and community activist, mother of three children, matriarch of five generations, and the embodiment of steadfast Christian faith. Precisely cut from old school cloth, challenged from birth with physical disability, guided by her religious belief, she harbored an inner toughness and enduring optimism. Family and friends likened her to the determined pioneer women depicted in "Little House on the Prairie," written by a distant cousin, Laura Ingalls Wilder. "Mom was a believer and a survivor," a son said. "She followed her own melody." Her husband was familiar with the tune. His mother, Theodosia Park Moran, women's rights and suffragette advocate, was co-chair of the 75th anniversary of the 1848 Women's Rights Convention held in the old Wesley Methodist Chapel, just up Fall Street from the Moran family home. His father was Daniel W. Moran, Seneca Falls lawyer, district attorney, and member of the New York State Assembly more than a century ago. She is survived by brother, Tracy II, a retired Navy captain, of San Luis Obispo, Calif.; daughter, Patricia McPhail (Jim) of Fairview, N.C.; sons, Emerson Jr., a writer, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and Michael (Lyn), a minister, of Eastford, Conn.; 10 grandchildren, assorted great and great-great-children, nieces and nephews. She is predeceased by brother Robert and sister Rhea. Arrangements entrust to Sanderson-Moore Funeral Home, Inc., 32 State Street, Seneca Falls, N.Y.
Family-Placed Obituary - CAROLYN WILDER MORAN An Undaunted Spirit Carolyn Wilder Moran, a concert violinist, business entrepreneur, church and community activist, matriarch of five generations, and the embodiment of steadfast Christian faith, passed away Saturday, March 12, 2011, in the hospice unit at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center. She was 94, the widow of Emerson D. Moran Sr., who died in 2004. They were married 69 years. Carolyn reached beyond traditional roles prescribed for women of her era. Precisely cut from old school cloth, challenged from birth with physical disability, guided by her religious belief, she harbored an inner toughness and enduring optimism. Family and friends likened her to the determined pioneer women depicted in "Little House on the Prairie," written by a distant cousin, Laura Ingalls Wilder. "Mom was a believer and a survivor," a son said. "She followed her own melody." In her teens, she was first violinist of the Syracuse (New York) Youth Symphony. At 17, she met Emerson, brother of her high school English teacher, at a meeting of the Oxford Group, a 1930s interdenominational, evangelical antidote to the period's general despair. In their 1979 memoir, A Love Story for Old Age, he recalled her as "a brown-eyed girl with an innocence and joyful radiance that set me a-goggling." He was from nearby Seneca Falls, birthplace of women's rights. It was a good match. They married a year later; she was 18, he was 25. Seven ministers took part in the service. "It was from her that I drew the spiritual will to begin in earnest the eternal attempt to substitute Christ for self," he later wrote. Through the following decades, his work as a consultant (he was a protégé of the original Oscar Mayer) and concerns for her health lead them from upstate New York to Madison, WI; Miami, FL; Tucson, AZ; Los Angeles, CA; back to Seneca Falls; and, finally, Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Wherever they settled, Carolyn applied her organizational skills to church and community causes, from washing dishes after Head Start lunches to directing a world-wide stewardship program for the Episcopal Church. In Miami, she chaired a fundraising "County Fair" for the brand new South Miami Hospital, now part of Baptist Health. In Tucson, she persuaded American impressionist artist Ted DeGrazia to donate an original pastel of a prayerful angelic Navaho child for a Christmas card to raise money for global Episcopal evangelism among students. In Huntington Beach, CA, she led a public campaign to restore public library budget cuts. The local paper editorialized "Thanks, Carolyn" for reminding the community "it's time that people stop wringing their hands over problems and start doing something about them." She taught her children "you can deal with anything if you have a program and a plan," a dictum she put into practice coping with her own disabilities and caring for her invalid husband the last years of his life. Carolyn was haunted by chronic handicapping pain triggered by her right hip, dislocated from birth. Surgery in 1957 presumably corrected the problem. However, after eight months in a full body cast, it was clear that skewed body mechanics presented a never-ending cascade of problems, leading to major joint replacements and years wearing leg braces, always concealed by elegant long skirts. Never daunted, in her late 60s Carolyn reinvented herself as a small business operator, designing and marketing a distinctive piece of motivational jewelry inspired by the nut-like pin that secures a helicopter's main rotor to the mast. The notion came from son Michael, onetime Navy helicopter pilot, who told her that pilots call it the "Jesus Nut," because "it holds the whole thing together." Over the next 20 years, an astronaut carried one of Carolyn's miniature Jesus Nuts during a spacewalk; Ukrainian Christians wore them as a symbol of their illegal faith; Desert Storms soldiers took them into battle. Carolyn and Emerson were profiled in Norman Vincent Peale's Guideposts magazine and appeared on TV's "PTL Club" and Pat Roberson's "700 Club." The business was taken up by daughter, Pat when Carolyn's caring for her husband superseded all else. Carolyn was born Carolyn Mae Wilder February 12, 1917 to parents Tracy H. and Lois P. Wilder of Syracuse, NY. She is predeceased by brother, Robert and sister, Rhea, and is survived by brother, Tracy II, a retired Navy captain, of San Luis Obispo, CA; daughter, Patricia McPhail (Jim) of Fairview, NC; sons, Emerson, Jr., a writer, of Palm Beach Gardens, FL, and Michael (Lyn), a minister, of Eastford, CT; ten grandchildren, assorted great and great-great children, nieces and nephews. A Memorial will be 2:00 PM Saturday, March 19, at Nativity Lutheran Church, 4075 Holly Drive, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410, 561-622-4998. A second memorial will be 2:00 PM Saturday, April 2, 2011, at Congregational Church of Eastford, 8 Church Road, Eastford, CT, 06242, 860-974-0294. Donations to Nativity Lutheran Church.
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1917 - 2011 (94 years)
Tracy Hartwell Wilder, b. 11 Mar 1890, Richland Township, Oswego, New York 
, d. 25 Oct 1973, Pulaski, Oswego, New York, USA 
