Caroline's obituary
Caroline Marie Moses (née Schulz)
July 20, 1982 – October 19, 2025
Caroline Marie Moses, 43, of Corvallis, Oregon, tragically passed away on October 19, 2025, near Lincoln City, Oregon. Born in Portland, Oregon at Providence St. Vincent Hospital, Caroline lived a life defined by passion, creativity, and love for her family.
Caroline grew up in Cornelius and Hillsboro, Oregon, where she attended Saint Matthew Catholic School, JW Poynter Jr. High, and Century High School (2001). She went on to study at Portland Community College, Linn-Benton Community College, and Oregon State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2018, majoring in Applied Visual Arts with a minor in Art History. She worked in a variety of roles throughout her life, including as a Certified Nursing Assistant, office professional, gallery artist and muralist, Educational Assistant in Special Education and substitute teacher for the Corvallis School District, and later in her most beloved role as the Kindergarten teacher and middle school art teacher at Zion Lutheran Christian School in Corvallis.
An accomplished and passionate artist, Caroline was well-known in the Corvallis community for her work in watercolor, drawing, and especially “painterly sculpture”, painting large, intricate mosaics on hand-crafted wood veneer panels, sculptures, and furniture. She exhibited frequently in galleries, participated in the Corvallis Art Walk and Southtown Art Walk, and was a proud member of the all-women’s art collective, The Nest, and Voices art collective. Her most notable work is Bessie’s Blue, a 6,000-square hand-painted mosaic mural depicting the endangered Fender’s blue butterfly. She also contributed to several other spaces, murals, and events around Corvallis, leaving a lasting imprint on the local arts scene.
Beyond her art, Caroline had a caring, joyful, and adventurous spirit. She loved cooking (especially baking her exceptional pumpkin pie from scratch), gardening, and preparing jams, soups, sauces, salsa, and other fresh and spicy dishes from her abundant garden. She treasured camping, hiking, and fishing with her family, and was an avid crafter who relished making her children’s Halloween costumes. Caroline adored animals, especially cats, and also had rabbits, chickens, and most recently her first puppy, Copper Scout. She enjoyed learning to play the ukulele, which she would occasionally play for her students.
Caroline was known for her warmth, kindness, creativity, silliness, and mischievous sense of humor. She was outgoing, spontaneous, and deeply committed to her family. As a mother, she devoted herself to nurturing her two sons, creating family traditions to instill a sense of joy, wonder, and magic, and always encouraging them to explore, play, and live life fully. She would have delighted in one day being a grandmother, spoiling grandchildren and daughters-in-law alike.
She was a dedicated Catholic, having been raised at Saint Matthew Catholic Church in Hillsboro. In recent years she was an involved member of Zion Lutheran Christian Church in Corvallis. Her guiding philosophy was captured in her own words: “It is irresponsible to live a life without passion.”
Caroline’s love for Oregon and especially the coast was profound, often spending days exploring the beaches, collecting agates, and enjoying time with her family. Tragically, she passed doing what she loved, taken by a sneaker wave, following the annual family camping weekend she always looked forward to.
Caroline’s legacy will be remembered in many ways: as a loving and dedicated mother and wife, beloved daughter, sister, and aunt, a talented and passionate artist, an avid gardener and skilled baker, an animal lover, and a cherished member of her community.
She is survived by her best friend and loving husband, Michael Moses, and their two sons, Wilderness Rain Moses (13) and River Wy’east Moses (11). She is also survived by her parents, Bob and Jeneane Schulz; older brother Joe Schulz, wife Heather and their children Hailey and Carter; older sister Corinne Bostwick, husband James and their daughter Mira; and many loving extended family members.
A funeral Mass will be held at Saint Matthew Catholic Church in Hillsboro, Oregon, on Saturday, November 29, at 11:00 AM, (rosary at 10:30 AM), with reception to follow in the parish hall. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Caroline Moses Memorial Art Scholarship at Linn-Benton Community College. [https://bit.ly/4a5H1i9]