Gale Moen, 78, of McGregor, died Thursday, August 15, 2019 at Providence Hospice Place in Waco.
Graveside Service: 9:30 a.m. Saturday, September 21, at Oakwood Cemetery in Waco
Memorial Funeral Service: 11:00 a.m. Saturday, September 21, at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Waco with The Rev. Aaron Zimmerman, Rector of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church of Waco, officiating and The Rev. Patrick J. Miller, Rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church of Houston, assisting.
Gale was born August 31, 1940 in Corpus Christi to Rockwell and Inez Rowe. She married her longtime sweetheart, Jim Moen, in 1959 at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church and they celebrated their 60th anniversary on June 12, 2019.
When she was 14 years old, Gale and her parents moved to Waco from Bellaire, Texas. She spent her summers in Seabrook with her grandmother Ellie Sayre at the Sayre Drug Company Store. Gale began dating Jim soon after her graduation from West Junior High School. She loved to dance, and some of her favorite memories were spent dancing with Jim to Big Band music. Jim would join Gale on family summer vacations to Prade Ranch near Leakey, Texas for canoeing and horseback riding. Jim and Gale would drive the drag (Austin Avenue) in Waco with Gale holding future brother-in-law, Al on her lap.
Gale loved all things Texas: Big Bend and the Davis Mountains, the Gulf Coast; especially Seabrook and Galveston and her home for the last 38 eventful years on the Middle Bosque River. She was deeply committed to researching and documenting her family history. Her great-great-grandfather, Henry Flavel Gillette was Baylor University’s first professor. Another relative, Steven Decatur Rowe, was the first male graduate of Baylor in 1854.
An avid promoter of Waco, Gale was a successful Realtor. She was especially thankful for her Jim Stewart Realtors family for 44 years, led by Frankie, Billie and Chuck. She loved and cared for her clients, many of whom became friends. Early in her career, she painted the homes that she sold as gifts for her clients.
Gale treasured her many friends, family and extended family. She held a special adoration for daughter Leigh of the Robert Herbert family, Elisabeth and Robin of the Robert and Patty Jeep family and the extended families of her daughters by marriage, Amy Moen and Mary Moen.
A gifted seamstress, Gale sewed beautiful garments for her daughters-in-law, grandchildren and herself from 1960 through 2000. Until the mid-1990’s, her creations were pieced together on an 1885 Wheeler & Wilson D-9 treadle sewing machine.
Passionate about healthy food and preparing gourmet meals, Gale loved entertaining and co-hosting fun parties, with friends and family often gathered around her in their McGregor kitchen.
Honest and sincere, Gale’s traits included a level head and a quick wit, traits that led to many card gameand Scrabble wins. Her poker face was a force to be reckoned with.
Beginning in 2003, Gale (lovingly known as “Meme”) founded “Cousins Camp” in the summers for her grandchildren. Activities included visits to Strecker Museum, the Ollie Mae Moen Discovery Center (now Mrs. Moen’s Neighborhood at the Mayborn Museum) and the Cameron Park Zoo; building indoor forts; movies and PBS kids shows; cooking lessons; geocaching; and fishing with bamboo poles.
A proud Episcopalian who was always ready to help someone in need, Gale loved each church in her life and those that members of her family established, helped form or expand in Houston, Baytown and Austin. She cherished her 30 years serving Meals on Wheels with her dear friend Patty Jeep.
Gale is survived by her husband, Jim; her two sons and their wives, Rock and Mary Moen and Eric and Amy Moen; grandchildren, Caroline, William, Elsa and Jens; and great-grandson, Grayson; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Allison and Bonnie Moen and their sons, Aaron Jon and Matthew.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to your favorite church, favorite charity or Meals on Wheels.
Place of Service: St. Alban's Episcopal Church , 305 N. 30th St.; Waco, TX 76710
Print Obituary & Condolences
Dear Moen family,
Gale was such a special person to me and Paul in our early days of married life. Gale was our realtor and helped us buy our first home where we stayed for 18 years. And the support and encouragement I received as a young band director from Gale and Jim never left me in all the years I taught. She was the role model for the gracious and hardworking band parent. Your family is in my heart and prayers.
Sincerely,
June Campbell
Thousands of memories flood my mind, after learning of Gale’s death. Anita Warren Howell Siesler informed me, Saturday. From a young woman dating a friend of Jim and Gale, to learning of her death.
Sharing times together, whether they were good of bad, never entered my mind, “way back when”. Today, I am sad to know she has gone on to a better place, joining her parents and other loved ones, leaving all of us behind to remember her.
Jim, Rock and Eric may God grant you peace in the memories and times spent with your wife and mother. Gale will be missed by those who loved and cherished her.
Jim and Moen family: I’m so sorry to hear of your loss. Gale was a great lady, and I enjoyed going to school with her. Also, enjoyed going to school with you, too, Jim, and playing baseball with you. I’ll try to catch up with you on one of our trips to Waco, which are often (our middle daughter, Dr. Robyn Driskell, works at Baylor, and she, too, lives in McGregor; so y’all may be neighbors). We’ll be praying for you.
Psalms 91:11
I am very sorry to hear of Gale’s death. She was a delightful person and a most cherished member of the Moen family. It has been several years since I had contact with her, but I remember her as a nice, welcoming person. My best wishes to her family.
My condolences to the Moen family. Gale was a genuinely nice, loving person. While I had not seen her for years, I know she was a much loved, and treasured person in the Moen family.