Only child of Dr. Roy N. Moxley and Grace Ann Stackhouse.
His mother, a former teacher at Dickinson County High School, died when Max was only 8 days old so was raised by his father’s
sister, Maude Halbert, in Chapman. In 1940 Max married Sarah Charlene “Icee” Schiveley (Feb. 10, 1912-May 9, 2000) d/o
Charles C. Schiveley (1876-1968) native of
Connelsville, PA and Lena Lovell (1882-1961)
native of Niles, MI. With Max’s death, the Moxley surname has
disappeared. He was the last surviving male to carry the surname descending from his great grandfather – Samuel Moxley (1800-
1878) – native of VA, resident of Ontario in Canada and Fayette County in PA and who moved to Shelbina, MO in 1867 and died there.The obit below is informative.
STERLING: – Max Moxley, longtime editor of
the Sterling Bulletin, died Thursday, Feb.
24, 2011 at the age of 98 at the Sterling
Presbyterian Manor.Max Lowell Moxley was born in Chapman,
Kansas on March 2, 1912, the son of Roy N.
and Grace Stackkhouse Moxley. His mother
died in childbirth and he was immediately
taken to live with his father’s sister,
Maude Halbert, and her husband Frank in
Chapman.
He attended Chapman city schools and
Dickinson County High School where his
mother had been a teacher. He spent the
first 18 years of his life with the Halberts,
graduating from Dickinson County High School
in 1930.
He attended the University of Kansas,
graduating in 1935 with a degree in
journalism. During his senior year he was
editor of the University Daily Kansan and
was also active in Sigma Delta Chi, the
honorary journalism fraternity which later
became the Society of Professional
Journalists to which he belonged the
remainder of his life.After graduation he took a job with the
Abilene Daily Chronicle as a reporter and
later as city editor. In 1940 he resigned
to buy the Delphos Republican, a small
weekly in Ottawa County. That same year he
married to Sarah Charlene Schiveley at the
Schearer Memorial Lutheran Church in
Chapman. He and Mrs. Moxley operated the
Republican until the outbreak of World War
II, when they sold the paper. They moved to
Kansas City where he worked in the Kansas
City Bureau of the Associated Press. His
principal job there was to file the Kansas-
Oklahoma wire, serving all dailies in the
two states. He often pointed out that this
was an exciting time for wire services in
that it covered the years of D-Day, VE Day
VJ Day and Roosevelt’s death. He later
became Missouri editor.
At the close of the war he opted to return
to country journalism and he and Mrs.
Moxley purchased the Sterling Bulletin in
October 1945 from Ruth Lyons, who had
owned the paper since 1913. Moxley sold
the Bulletin to Karl Gaston in 1975 and
he and Mrs. Moxley remained with the firm
as Office manager until 1993, completing
a total of 49 years service to the Bulletin.Moxley served as president of the Sterling
Chamber of Commerce on two different
occasions. In 1953 while Chamber president
he headed a committee which started the first
Sterling Community Chest, which today is
sponsored by the Sterling Rotary. He also
served two terms as president of the
Sterling Library Board, including the years
when the Ann Dilley addition was built and
the elevator installed. He was instrumental
in raising funds for the elevator and more
recently funded the automation of the
library as a memorial to his wife.
Moxley was a member of Sterling Rotary for
58 years, serving as club secretary for 22
years. In 2001 he completed 50 years of
perfect attendance at Sterling Rotary.
During his years at the Bulletin, Moxley
served on the building committees at
Sterling College and served as general
chairman of the school’s 75th anniversary
in 1962.
On retirement from the Bulletin, Moxley
assumed various duties about town
including that of an assistant at the
local library. One of his duties included
the organization of the Sterling Tree
Committee which, in the 70s, was
responsible for treating hundreds of
American elms for Dutch elm disease and
the organization of nurseries to provide
replacement trees.
Since 1891, the Bulletin has been
identified as the “Old Home Paper”, both
in the masthead and in the tin letters
on the front of the building. For thirty
years Moxley wrote a weekly column
as “The Old Home Editor” and then for
another ten years s “The Old Home Ex-
Editor”. More recently he has supplied a
weekly photo-feature known as “Images of
the Past”.
He was a member of the Lutheran church
at Chapman. Mrs. Moxley died in May 2000.
There are no survivors. Cremation has
taken place. A memorial service will be
held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Mar. 23 at
First United Methodist Church, Sterling.
Family links:
Parents:
Roy Newton Moxley (1888 – 1982)
Grace Ann Stackhouse Moxley (1878 – 1912)
Spouse:
Sarah Charlene Schiveley Moxley (1912 – 2000)*
*Calculated relationship |
