Merril Moses remembered for lifelong devotion to family, business and local sports
Merril A. Moses made the most of every day — often splitting his time between running his well-known jewelry store and dedicating himself to local athletics and the community.
Moses, a beloved business owner, U.S. Navy veteran and sports fanatic whose jewelry stores and civic contributions left a lasting imprint on Butler County, died at his home Sunday, May 25, surrounded by family. He was 98.
For more than 70 years, Moses owned and operated Moses Jewelers in Butler County. His eldest son, Larry, said his passion for work was evident in the short amount of time it took him to get there.
“I’ve had people in the community tell me about how fast my dad would drive just so he could get to work,” he said with a laugh. “He was nonstop and did anything he could do to help his family.”
A devoted husband and father of six, Moses often spoke of his blessings in life, never more proudly than when surrounded by his five surviving children, nine grandchildren and great-granddaughter, Lucy, whose photograph he kissed daily.
He and his late wife, Jane, were married for 62 years and were well-known for their love of dancing and community involvement.
After serving his country, Moses went to West Penn Horological School of Watchmaking in Pittsburgh and graduated in 1948. One year later, he opened his store in Lyndora.
In May 1968, he moved the store to 115 W. Cunningham St. in Butler before opening a second location in 1981 inside the Clearview Mall in Center Township.
“I would describe him as maybe the most determined person I’ve ever met,” his son, Tim Moses, said. “He has been through really difficult times with all of his children and basically no money for many years. He also lost a son when he was in his mid-60s. But he persevered through that with my mom.”
Known for his warmth, wisdom and dedication to service, Moses was more than just a hometown jeweler — he became a pillar of the community.
He was a founding member of the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame, where he was later honored with the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. Additionally, in 2015, he was recognized with the Butler Football Hometown Hero award.
“Merril was very well respected in the community,” said Jim Lokhaiser, a former sports director at the Butler Radio Network who developed a close bond with Moses. “That’s one thing that I always admired about him.”
Moses and Lokhaiser were later inducted into a special section of the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame.
“That meant a lot to Merril as it did to me at that time,” Lokhaiser said.
Additionally, Moses spent more than two decades officiating high school sports and another 30 years operating the scoreboard clock at Butler Senior High School football games.
“He started officiating just so he could make an extra $15 a night to help feed us kids,” Larry Moses said. “He was in tremendous shape to do that.”
When he wasn’t at an athletic contest of some kind, Moses was often found on the links. As a longtime member of Butler Country Club, he achieved a rare feat of scoring two holes-in-one on the same hole — once in 1995 and again in 2015, at age 88.
“At one time, he was the oldest single-digit handicap player at Butler Country Club,” Larry Moses said.
Despite his age, Moses’s sons made sure he was still a fixture on the greens.
“As far as I know, he played golf every single summer of his life until this year,” Tim Moses said. “Last year, we had him out. We only played four holes, but we played.”
Building on decades of dedication and respect for their father, Larry and Tim Moses expanded the family business in 2008, opening the doors to its present-day location on Route 228 in Seven Fields.
“He was hard as nails with a heart of gold,” Larry Moses said. “We loved our dad.”
According to his obituary, the family requests memorial donations to either Butler Catholic School, 515 E. Locust St., Butler, PA 16001 or to The Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation, Inc. using The Kids’ Weekend Backpack Program in the memo line.
