Oderay A (Moscoso) Boyer

Wilbraham-Oderay Boyer, long time resident of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, died on Thursday, December 21, 2023.  She was 95 years old.

Born Oderay Arsenia Moscoso on September 15, 1928, she was the only child of Venancia Bustamante and Antonio Moscoso Herrera.  She was raised in the village of her birth, Lajamina, and in nearby Pedasi, both in the province of Los Santos in the Republic of Panama.  She was educated in the public and private schools of Panama, graduating in 1945 from the Escuela Profesional Isabel Herrera Obaldía in Panama City, and was a certified IBM data input specialist.  After her graduation she was employed by Guardia y Sia, SA., and later the Tribunal Electoral.  

In 1955 she gave birth to her first son, Adolfo Chandeck, the son of Luis Alberto Chandeck.  In early 1961 she met H. Carl Boyer, of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, then serving in the United States Army at Fort Amador in the Panama Canal Zone.  They married later that year, and the following year she gave birth to her second son, Carl Peter.  The new family moved to the United States in 1963, settling in Wilbraham, where she gave birth to her third son, John.  In 1965 the family moved into a newly built home on Beebe Road in Wilbraham, where Oderay would reside with her husband for the rest of her life.

Known as Ode to family and friends, she quickly adapted to her New England home, falling in love with the beauty of the winter snows.  Part of the last generation of stay-at-home moms, she was a fine cook, busily preparing daily meals and elaborate holiday spreads.  She was an avid gardener, transforming her multi-acre property into a veritable park, highlighted by extensive flower beds, decorative shrubs, and exotic ornamental trees.  She loved embroidery, creating beautiful tablecloths, shirts, dresses, and anything else she felt could benefit from decoration.  She also enjoyed reading celebrity magazines and romance novels, and was a great fan of films from Hollywood’s Golden Age.

In the late 1970s, as the United States transformed into a two-income economy, she followed along, learning in her late 40s to drive a car, which she used to commute to Sunshine Art Studios in East Longmeadow, where she was employed for more than 20 years until her retirement.

On winter weekends throughout the ‘70s and early ‘80s, she could be found at her favorite table at the main lodge at Berkshire East Ski Area in Charlemont, where her husband Carl worked on weekends as a ski instructor and ski school director.  There, while her husband and children were skiing, she would pass the day at her cold-weather pastime of embroidery, chatting with the ski area staff, mountain regulars, and any other ski families who chose to share her table.

While she resided in the United States for the rest of her life, becoming in 1986 a citizen, her heart remained in her native Panama.  In her later years she returned home annually for several weeks to Lajamina, where she retained the rustic house of her youth across the street from the village church.  A cousin of one Panamanian president and a family friend of another, she seemed to know everyone, from the highest office holders to the most modest farmers.  But no matter what his or her station, she treated everyone with the same interest and kindness.

She is survived and greatly missed by her husband of 62 years, Carl; her three sons: Adolfo and his wife, Luz, of Boca Raton, Florida; Carl Peter and his wife, Halina, of Monson, Massachusetts; and John, of North Granby, Connecticut; her three grandchildren: Michael Chandeck and his wife, Meghan, of Green Bay, Wisconsin; Marc Chandeck and his wife, Kristen, of San Jose, California; and Nicole Chandeck, of Miami, Florida; her goddaughter Sanya Moscoso Rodriguez of Panama City, Panama, and many cousins from her native country.

Visiting hours will be held on Friday, April 5, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Lombard Funeral Home 3 Bridge St. in Monson.  A Funeral Mass will be given on Saturday, April 6, at 10:00 AM at St. Cecilia’s Roman Catholic Church in Wilbraham, followed by a burial service at Glendale Cemetery in Wilbraham. Memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer Association (https://www.alz.org/) or the American Cancer Society (https://www.cancer.org/). 

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