Obituary of Laura Owen Muceus

Laura Owen Muceus was born in the parlor of her home in Layton, Utah, on Angel Street.  She came from pioneer stock, her great grandfather having driven one of the first wagons into the Salt Lake Valley.  Her father was a carpenter and her mother a homemaker who took care of her invalid grandmother at home until her death.  Laura was the fifth of six children, and was especially close to her sister, Polly, who was just 18 months her junior.

Laura was married first to Gordon Wood, with whom she had a son, Steve.  She was then married to Henry Muceus, who, 17 years her senior, had taught music at the junior high school.  He came into the marriage with three children, Lynda, Ed and Cheryl, who along with her son, resulted in a “ready-made family” of six.  She and Henry had an additional four children, Mary, Jon, Adriene and Rebecca.

Together they lived in Madeira, Watsonville and Pittsburg, California, where Henry was employed as an elementary school principal.  When Henry reached retirement, he, Laura and their two youngest children moved to Jacksonville, Oregon, where they played tennis and watched frequent outdoor concerts, enjoying a few “golden retirement years” until Henry developed Alzheimer’s disease after suffering a stroke.  Laura took care of him at home for three years until she no longer could and he had to be placed in the VA hospital in Roseburg, Oregon.  He eventually passed away in a nursing home in Medford, Oregon, in 1985.

Laura moved to Lacey, Washington, 34 years ago to be near family.  Over the years, she taught piano to hundreds of students in her home.  A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she held positions as Ward and Stake organist, Stake Music Chairman, and Relief Society president multiple times.  She also faithfully served in the Seattle Temple for 13 years.

Laura passed away February 10, 2019 in Olympia, Washington.  She had seen two husbands, all her brothers and sisters, and three children pass away during her 92 years. She leaves behind five children, 24 grandchildren, and 31 great grandchildren.  She will be sorely missed by her family and by many friends.  We take comfort in knowing what a welcome reunion she must have received when she left this life for the next, and was again reunited with her parents, siblings, husband and children.  We are also comforted in the knowledge that we will be reunited with her again as well.

A viewing will be held Saturday, February 23, 2019, 10:00 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Nisqually Chapel, 9341 4th Ave. NE, Lacey, WA 98516, followed by a funeral service at 11:00 a.m.

Burial will take place Monday, February 25, 2019, 10:00 a.m. at Memory Gardens Memorial Park, 1395 Arnold Lane, Medford, OR 97501.

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"I Am Standing Upon the Seashore"

I am standing upon the seashore.  A ship, at my side, spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts for the blue ocean.  She is an object of beauty and strength.  I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says, “There, she is gone.”

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast, hull and spar as she was when she left my side. And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me — not in her. And, just at the moment when someone says, “There, she is gone,” there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “Here she comes!”

And that is dying…

Death comes in its own time, in its own way. Death is as unique as the individual experiencing it.

~ by Henry Van Dyke