Editor:
This is in response to the Sept. 10 article about Mary Florence Moroz who died Sept. 2, at 108 years.
According to Mary's 86-year-old daughter Diana Phillips, some information provided to the media by a grandchild of Mary's was unsubstantiated. Mary's first husband's reported ties to the Russian Mafia and bootlegging are unfounded and should not have been referenced to Mary.
Mary married her second husband Fred Moroz a CPR employee in 1943. Her life revolved around raising her family, filling the table with home-cooked meals and baking for family and friends, not making moonshine.
She was a hard working farmwoman who always cultivated a large vegetable garden and canned and preserved the harvests well into her 90's. She made homemade cherry wine from her cherry tree and always had jugs in the basement. She perhaps gave away or sold wine in the old days to neighbours when selling eggs and the vegetables from her garden, but she was not a career moonshine maker. She made extra money as an accomplished seamstress and was a somewhat of fortune-teller. A bit of a hoarder it was hard for her to throw anything out. This might explain the many jugs found in her basement along with much other stuff when after 59 years in Merritt she was moved to Sechelt.
She was proud of how strong and fit she was and loved to play the accordion and sing and dance. She loved her family and cherished their visits.
It is with great fondness our family remembers this remarkable hard working and mischievous, feisty woman who had a great sense of humour and who raised six children and survived many hardships in her very long life.
Denise Milliard
Granddaughter of Mary Moroz
