(Seguin) — A local civil rights and community leader is being remembered this week. Earl Moseley Sr. died a little more than a week ago at the age of 92.
Moseley was a prominent member of the African American community in Seguin, but he was much more than that. He served the larger community in a number of capacities, including his time as a member of the Guadalupe Regional Medical Center Board of Managers.
Joe Patterson Sr. worked closely with Moseley over the years. They both served and led the Seguin Chapter of the NAACP and the Seguin Martin Luther King Day Planning Committee. Patterson says Mosely was a force in Seguin.
“When I think about Mr. Mosely, I think of a true leader and a dedicated man to his community,” said Patterson.
Moseley offered his leadership on other boards and commissions over the years. Regina Lee, who has also worked alongside with Moseley, says he was a thoughtful leader.
“Mr. Moseley was born in a time where education was encouraged, but I think Mr. Moseley had two degrees. Mr. Mosely was very smart-very smart, very forward thinking, very outgoing and very inclusive. He lived not a charmed life, but he lived a good life. He was adamant in what he believed in. He was strong in his faith, and he never forgot the teachings of his parents, his mother especially. Of course, his father but his mother especially — that softness, that tenderness. You open a door for a lady, you do this for a woman. He never forgot those qualities,” said Lee.
As a civil rights and community leader, Moseley worked to make sure that the people of Seguin who needed help and support got it through the services and programs that were available here locally. Lee says he was a tireless worker and advocate for the people.
“He was very important because I think for the Housing Authority, people thought a lot of him. He was a man of his word. He was a man of good moral character and fiber. I don’t think there was anything that you could say bad about Mr. Moseley, nothing. He didn’t mind picking up the tab. If you asked him for a donation – if he knew it was something viable, he did it. He believed in community. He believed in his people. He believed in his faith. He was a good person and he wanted anything in the betterment of the community, and he would speak up for himself. You don’t get a lot of Mr. Moseley’s anymore,” said Lee.
Patterson says the community lost a great citizen, but for him, this represents the loss of someone that he looked up to for decades.
“Personal, community and respect — I remember him standing for what’s right most of all. He stood for right. He was an extreme religious man. Every time, he sat down to eat, he would say his prayers before he ate. At church, he would never be afraid to pray, and he knew his Bible inside out, upside down. He taught me a lot. We attended Bible studies together all the time, a men’s class and I learned an extreme amount from him as it pertains to the Bible and understanding God’s relationship with man. So, to me that would probably be the most that I learned from him which is what is number one, he improved my relationship with God,” said Patterson.
Patterson says Moseley mentored him and many others, and helped to show them how they could be of service in the community.
“I started working with Mr. Moseley years back, him and Goldie Harris were my mentors, and I don’t feel that I could not have lucked up and God presented me with better mentors than Goldie and Mr. Mosely. Mr. Moseley helped me to understand and appreciate what it meant to stand for something and to fight for something and to struggle for better ways for not just himself but for people that he knew and that I wasn’t even thinking in my younger ages of being leaders in the NAACP or even MLK and these two in particular led into other ventures that I am involved with, but I owe it all to Mr. Moseley from that standpoint that he was determined. He was intelligent. He presented himself well. He never went anywhere without a tie on and the best haircut that he could have. He was just a perfectionist and when he spoke, his words had to come out just right or he did not say them and intelligence was easy for him, so I learned a lot from Mr. Mosely,” said Patterson.
Patterson says Moseley lived a long life and his presence in Seguin will certainly be missed.
“The community lost a good person, a person that we should all appreciate and give some respect for and try to live his wishes to be better as a community,” said Patterson.
The funeral, for Earl Moseley Sr., is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 18 at Seguin’s Second Baptist Church, where Moseley served as a deacon for decades.