aggie and Jeff Moy and their four children, Ben, Emily, Jessica, and Abigail, came to St. Stephen’s four years ago after a deliberate year

of “church shopping”. What Maggie and Jeff were looking for was community involvement. What drew them to us was how welcome people made them feel. “People didn’t pretend we didn’t exist,” said Maggie. “They reached out to us from all over.” The Moys joined when Rev. Beth Wheatley-Dyson was our rector during the transition time between Cliff and Margot.
   Maggie grew up in Danbury, Connecticut, one of ten siblings in a Catholic family. Her father ran a farm stand five miles from home. Her maternal grandmother lived next door. They enjoyed a tightly knit family, whose growth revolved around working for their father at the farm stand. Maggie remembers Holy Week as church and selling Easter flowers at one of her family’s booths in the city, or being old enough to work the corn table, where the theatre people would stop to buy corn on their way upstate. She went to Parochial school and then a Catholic college in Maine, St. Joseph’s, before transferring to Northeastern here in Boston.
   Jeff hails from Mattapan where his family had immigrated from the small village of Moy in southern China in 1951. His family owned a dry cleaning business on Blue Hill Avenue. Maggie says that polyester, and changing demographics forced the Moys to close their business in the early 1970s.
   In elementary school, Jeff found himself the only Asian in all African-American classes. When he turned eleven, his parents moved to Quincy, where he was the only Asian in all Irish-American classes. He was discriminated against in both schools. Jeff’s family’s faith was Ancestralism, a pre-Buddhist religion. Before his mother died, she converted to Christianity, thereby opening the door for the family to experience a new faith.
   The Moys have four children at home, but they have five children in their hearts. Interspersed in Maggie’s stories is Andrew, their first-born child. Andrew was born, took a single breath and died. Jeff and Maggie were devastated. Their priest and regular doctor were not with them in the hospital room to minister them, but the anesthesiologist and other doctors were ministers and deacons in their churches. “We said prayers. We cried. And Jeff baptized Andrew,” said Maggie.
   They mourn each day and realize that Andrew is the angel of the family, and that brings them peace. They coped with the grief by taking a trip to Italy where they visited many cities, including Rome and the Vatican. To see the beauty and history was very healing for them.

   Music has been a very important part of Maggie’s life. When she was growing up, all ten siblings took piano lessons, and she was in the choir in college. When she was pregnant, she always listened to classical music. After Ben was born, when he would fuss as a baby, she would play light piano music to soothe him. She introduced all her children to Metro Music Together which has children singing with rhythm, beat, and patterns. The nuns always told her that singing is like praying twice.
   Maggie says that you have to be invested when you sing and it opens up the spirit. “You just feel better when you sing,” she says. “Send me out on Sunday and I can last the week of being at soccer mom… Then I need a refresher by Sunday again!”
   Ben, Emily, and Jessica have joined our Childrens’ Choir. They invite your children to sing with them. It’s fun!