Joan E. Moroney

Joan Elizabeth (Clark) Moroney passed away Thursday morning at York Hospital after a short illness. Joan (pronounced like "Joanne"--short spelling, long pronunciation) was known as Jo in Maine and Liz everywhere else.Jo/Liz was born in Natick, Massachusetts on October 3, 1928 to Florence Baker Clark and Horace Little Clark, the youngest in a family of three daughters. The family moved to Sanford, Maine soon thereafter, where her father ran the water district, and her mother helped establish the first Girl Scout troops in the area. Once her sisters, Beatrice Clark Brown and Louise (Laddie) Baker Clark Flyger went off to school, she became a regular accompanying her father on his rounds checking the water district, attending the regional and state water district conventions, and attending his reunions for Class of '09 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).She decided she wanted to go to MIT. Her mother disapproved. Women didn't go to MIT then. When she graduated from Sanford High School in 1947, they were at a stalemate. Jo refused to apply anywhere else. Her mother pulled some strings to get her into her own alma mater, Bradford Junior College, of Haverhill, Massachusetts. Jo/Liz graduated from the 2-year program in 1949. It was at Bradford that she switched to "Liz," tired of explaining to everyone how to pronounce her name.Jo/Liz didn't give up her goal of going to MIT, and her mother finally blessed her choice. In the fall of 1949, she entered MIT as a freshman, as one of the largest classes of women on record at that time: 15. She studied at MIT for two years, then took two years off to work in Manhattan with M. W. Kellogg Company as a technical writer writing oil refinery manuals. She found ways to handle the male dominated workplace with grace. When she found errors in the material sent to her, she would ask seemingly innocent, gentle questions, and draw out the error most tactfully. She said she never had a problem with prejudice against her being a woman.One of her proudest accomplishments was saving up the money to finish her MIT degree in one calendar year. She graduated from MIT with a degree in General Engineering in June, 1954. Then she went back to M. W. Kellogg.She lived in Manhattan until she married Richard Morgan Moroney, Jr. (Dick) on November 24, 1959. He was an MIT graduate student, so she moved to Cambridge and took a job at Badger, still writing technical manuals. Along came her first child, Anne (1960), and soon she stopped work to become a full-time mother. Jean (1963), and Richard III (1965) soon followed and she had her hands busy.The family moved to Sanford, Maine in October of 1971, and lived in the house on Jagger Mill Road for the next 40 years. During the kids years in school, Jo/Liz volunteered in many ways. She designed and sewed costumes for the Sanford High Drama Club, she helped the Band Boosters raise money, and most of all, she continued her family's involvement in the Girl Scouts.When the family arrived in Maine, there was no room in Brownie Troop 207 for Jean, so Jo/Liz became another leader of the Brownies. Then when Jean graduated from Brownies, there was no one to be a leader for Cadette Troop 247 for Anne. She became the Cadette Troop leader. She enjoyed working with the 7th and 8th graders so much, that she continued as the leader of the Cadette troop through Spring of 1982, long after both girls were off to college. Along the way, she also helped with the senior troop. After she retired as a leader, she continued as treasurer for the Mousam Valley Association of the Girl Scouts for many years. She was honored for her service in the early 2000's.Jo/Liz briefly returned to the workforce from 1980-1983, working at H&R Block. She was the office manager of the South Portland Office in 1982 and 1983.She spent the next 10 years volunteering at Greater Portland Landmarks, where she became the resident computer expert. She was honored for her service in the mid 1990's, after which she "retired." She and her husband started wintering in Ft. Myers, Florida, in 1994. She was active in duplicate bridge clubs in both Southern Maine and Southwest Florida. She earned her Life Master in 1998. She was also very active in the Embroiderer's Guild of America (EGA) in both Southern Maine and Southwest Florida.She continued to be a snowbird for a few years after losing her husband, Dick, in 2002. Then she sold the condo in Florida and bought one in Princeton, NJ to be close to her young grandchildren (Elsa Elizabeth Moroney, born 2002, and Richard Morgan Moroney V, born 2005). She continued to live in two places until she sold the house in Maine in 2012.But she couldn't stay away from Maine. Every summer afterwards, she has spent part of the summer at the beach or at the lake in Southern Maine. Many times she would organize family vacations at rental cottage, or rent a place for herself. She started wintering with her daughter, Jean, in Naples, Florida in 2015. That summer, on a trip to Florida, she put her foot down and bought a cottage on Square Pond in Shapleigh. She has spent three long, happy summers there since. When the family got together to celebrate her 90th birthday last fall, she decided to organize another family beach weekend for this summer. She rented two houses to ensure she could have, not just her children and grandchildren, and her beloved daughter-in-law Karen Sue, and son-in-law, Harry Binswanger, but also her much beloved extended family: Nieces Linda Anne Brown and Kirsten Flyger Enzinger, Great Niece Sandy Enzinger Sanders, and Great, Great Nephew Joseph Sanders.Her trip up to Maine this summer was delayed due to ill health. But she finally got up to her cottage on Square Pond two weeks ago, then went to the beach house for the family get-together on schedule. She was admitted to the hospital during the week. Always positive, she reflected on the week, saying, "We'll remember this as a good week, because we got the family together." On her last day, with a circle of hands with all of her descendants, she said, "this is the way go." She is survived by her children: Anne Elizabeth Moroney of East Brunswick, NJ, Jean Moroney Binswanger of Naples, FL, and Richard Morgan Moroney III, of Princeton, NJ, her grandchildren: Elsa Elizabeth Moroney and Richard Morgan Moroney V, of Princeton, NJ, and her sister, Beatrice Clark Brown of Silver Springs, Maryland.A gathering for remembrances will be held at the Carll-Heald & Black Funeral Home, 580 Main Street, Springvale, Maine, 04083 from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday, August 24, 2019. Memorial services will also be held in Princeton, NJ and Naples, FL later this fall. In honor of her lifetime love of reading. please make a donation to the library of your choice in lieu of flowers.