On January 1, 2025, Madeline Paine Moyer passed away in Raleigh, NC at 98.

Madeline, born September 13, 1926, in Lebanon, PA, was the third of eight children of Robert and Mary Lewis Paine. She was a member of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church and graduated from Lebanon Catholic High School, Class of 1944. She won the 1942 Excellence Medal, the 1944 Religion Medal and a medal for History Essays.

During the World War II years, Madeline did her part for the war effort at the USO, dancing with G.I.s until her feet were sore, inviting many of them home for a touch of family life with a meal and a game of cards plus she also collected items  for recycling. She worked at a Military Reservation processing medical discharges reports for returning G.I.s.

On June 1, 1946, she married Joseph Jacob Moyer who had returned from WWII as an Army sergeant after serving in Europe. They soon moved to Iowa City, Iowa, where Joe attended college on the G.I. Bill. Even while starting a family, she worked part time to help pay the bills and typed all of his college papers, including his Master's Thesis. She was a medical secretary for Dr Nathaniel G. Alcock, Head of the State University of Iowa College of Medicine Department of Urology. He was an early pioneer in the field of urology who developed the urology program which was one of the most highly regarded teaching programs in the nation.

Growing up during the Great Depression, she learned to preserve and stretch a dollar, an essential trait used later to balance the family budget and keep her growing brood well fed and groomed. This was particularly true during their earliest years.

Madeline and Joe regarded their years in Iowa with their two oldest daughters while Joe was obtaining his degrees in Electrical Engineering as the "Golden Years of Iowa." They lived in married student housing, surrounded by other couples of the same age who were "in the same boat," raising children and struggling to make ends meet while the husbands obtained their degrees. These neighbors became treasured lifelong friends. When it was time for Madeline to deliver Kathleen, her first born, they relied on a neighbor who had a two seat coupe to get her to the hospital on time. He returned with Joe on the second trip.

Having taken classes with Singer Sewing Machine in Lebanon, Madeline's ability to sew, and mend, was a lifelong asset for herself and her children. She quickly put those lessons to good use in Iowa when she made dresses for her two oldest daughters, Kathleen & Jeanne, from old dresses of her two youngest sisters sent by her mother. Her Tour de Force was sewing elaborate gowns for her two oldest as Junior Bridesmaids for the wedding of Madeline's youngest sister in 1957, all while busy with six children aged newborn to ten.

Madeline enjoyed many happy days in Mahopac, NY, where she lived for 15 years and then 51 years in Raleigh, NC, after Joe was transferred there by IBM in 1973. She was an avid gardener, growing roses and other flowers as well as vegetables, particularly tomatoes which she and Joe loved in a BLT. Nearly year round in Raleigh, fresh flowers could be found throughout the first floor of their house in vases they bought in Europe. Her secret to keeping her flowers fresh for so long? It was to put vases of flowers nightly into the kitchen refrigerator. Luckily, they had a second refrigerator in the garage for food.

Madeline was a member of the Garden Club in New York and later in North Carolina, receiving awards for her prize-winning arrangements.

She, Joe and the children loved the neighborhood block parties as well as entertaining neighbors and Joe's work colleagues on the backyard patio which Joe built. Most of her time was consumed by raising a family of seven children.  ​

When all the children were in school in Mahopac, she took a job at Putnam Community Hospital as a medical secretary in the radiology department, building upon her previous medical experience. Upon moving to Raleigh, she took another "temporary" part time job, this one lasting 15 years as an Administrative Assistant at the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park. Over the years, she befriended over six hundred Fellows and was sorely missed by staff when she reluctantly retired in 1993.

Nobody could pack a suitcase or luggage rack or load a car as efficiently as she could for family vacations, including their epic 23 day family vacation with seven children aged 3 to 17 to seven states to site see as well as visit family and friends in 1964 covering 3558 miles; several cross-country trips; and later two more as a Grandma with her two young grandsons. She racked up 48 states! Have suitcase, will travel.

Madeline loved the adventure of travel, making three trips with Joe to Alaska to visit son Tom, once cruising on the ocean-going ferry to Juneau to meet him, then squeezing into his pickup truck three across and taking turns driving six hundred miles to Fairbanks through the rugged Yukon Territory.

She also loved the overseas travel she did with Joe to the British Isles and mainland Europe, particularly those to visit Joe's family in Germany and Austria. Together they enjoyed visiting 23 countries, meeting friends and family, seeing sights and buying treasures to delight her family. Her cut lace handmade tablecloth from Murano was a fixture at every special occasion meal. Madeline set a beautiful table (or two if lots of family was in town), complete with floral centerpiece(s), color coordinated napkins and her "best" china, stemware and flatware. In preparation for those European trips, she took several German language courses at the local community college. Not taking enough courses to earn a college degree was among her few regrets.

In addition to flower arranging and setting a beautiful table, Madeline expressed her creative side in assembling outfits for the annual NHC Halloween party; in seasonally decorating the Dining Room sideboard (her favorites were the red, white and blue holidays since she was very patriotic); and in the many memorable cakes she made  for her children's birthdays growing up, including a train, Army tank, computer and, particularly, the elaborate Barbie Doll Cake which Madeline made for her daughters and by request, for her mother. In 2013, daughters Jeanne and JoAnne made a doll cake to surprise Madeline on her 87th birthday.

Nothing captured her attention faster, in email, phone call or letter, as something related to her siblings. Like her mother, Madeline was raised in a warm, loving family with traditional values and the importance of God and family. She had a close bond with her five sisters and two brothers, thoroughly enjoying every Paine-Lewis  Family Reunion from 1945 to 2019 as well as "mini reunions" which the siblings held  in Autumn for many years. She was well known for staying connected with family and friends and every year sent them her Christmas letter which she started in 1947 as a means of staying in touch with PA family while living in Iowa.

Anything related to her family history or genealogy "got her juices flowing" big time. She traced her relations as far back as she could and became a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution through Cpl. Hector Paine and ten other ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War and enjoyed attending their meetings for many years. She was also a member of the North Carolina Society Dames of the Court of Honor, by virtue of being descended from a Commissioned Officer, Capt. Andrew Lewis, who served and died in action during the Civil War.

With her remarkable memory, she told and re-told stories of her childhood and recollected memorable milestones of each of her children's young lives and kept detailed records of major and minor incidents in her life. She could tell you everything about each item in her china closets and what they meant to her.

The twin lure of genealogy and family led Madeline to give her children Christmas gifts many years of books related to family history/genealogy, letters she typed to and from both sets of parents from the 1940s through 1960s, stories of the contents of her china closet, tape recordings of her mother singing​ songs of her youth and numerous other projects. Madeline loved those special projects, including typing she did for her siblings. She was always busy, resting only when forced to do so. Even living alone in her 90s after Joe died, she still set the alarm for 7 or 8am to make sure she had extra time to get things done during the day.

Her adult children, scattered across the country, made the effort to visit Raleigh during the holidays, which greatly pleased Madeline, and they were on hand to celebrate milestones like her 90th birthday and 70th wedding anniversary. She and Joe loved their home, garden, yard, their patio pig-pickings and most of all, their wonderful neighbors who brought them so much joy in their half century in Raleigh. As Madeline and Joe aged, those neighbors, along with treasured friends, were especially helpful in many ways and a source of great comfort.

Madeline was preceded in death by her husband, Joe, and sisters Elizabeth Good, Mary Lou Matarazzi, Kathryn Sattazahn, Janet McParland and brothers Robert and Joseph Paine. She leaves behind seven children, Kathleen Moyer and partner Emil D'Onofrio of Poughkeepsie, NY; Jeanne Moyer of Raleigh, NC; Tom and wife Carrin Halffman of Ashland, OR; Carole Rivenbark and husband Rick of Charlotte, NC; Robert  of Kittery, ME; JoAnne Moyer and husband  Jesse Price of  Raleigh, NC; Catherine Cates and husband Kevin of Frisco, TX; grandchildren Nicholas Nerone; Janara Nerone; Lt. Col. Jeffrey Rivenbark, U.S. Space Force, and wife Jolie; Matthew Rivenbark and wife Casey; and Kyle Cates; great grandchildren Cole and Roreigh Rivenbark; a sister, Nancy Owens; and many great and great great nieces and nephews.

A viewing will be held on January 15th  from 10-11am at Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 2 North 8th  Street, Lebanon, PA. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11am. Interment will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery in Lebanon. Thompson Funeral Home, Inc. is entrusted with the arrangements. Please share your memories with the family at their online guest book at thompsonfuneralhomelebanon.com