Marilyn Kay Moxness, known to family and friends as Kay, was born in Minot, North Dakota, on May 24, 1945, and let go of this life quietly on November 28, 2022, in Newport, Oregon.

Kay’s childhood access to the arts developed her lifelong love for them. In a biographical sketch she wrote for the Oregon Coast Council for the Arts when she first joined the board, she recalled, “My childhood in rural North Dakota was filled with books, hours at the piano, writing little stories, collecting insects (for a while I was pretty sure I was going to be an entomologist), drawing and watercolor painting, and puppet theaters made in empty tissue boxes.”

After graduation from Bergen High School, her interest in mathematics led Kay to earn a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in public policy economics, both from the University of North Dakota. Kay worked briefly for Basin Electric in Bismarck, North Dakota, and did a brief stint as a lecturer in economics at a private college. Beginning in 1969, Kay’s professional career spanned almost four decades in the energy industry in utilities and consulting in a multistate electric cooperative utility.

While living in the Midwest, Kay was active in the arts. She attended the Metropolitan Opera’s Midwest Week each year in Minneapolis, and through her then husband, she met many speakers, musicians, theater groups, and dance artists at the college where he worked. “I was ‘hostess without portfolio’ for that ten-year-period,” she recalled. After Kay moved to Los Angeles, events at the Music Center fulfilled her art needs.

In 1978 Kay relocated to Newport, Oregon. She worked for the Central Lincoln Public Utility District as an economist for the next 30 years, spending much of her time in regional policy meetings in the Valley.

Kay quickly became active in the arts in Newport. She wrote, “One of the first things I did when I moved to Newport was join the OCCA, which was pretty new then, and I went to plays at the Naterlin Center” (now Newport City Hall). She served on the board of the Newport Symphony Orchestra and participated in their Conductor’s Dinners. She also supported the Yaquina River Museum of Art in Toledo. Eventually the demands of her job obliged her to leave the OCCA board for a time, but she rejoined after her retirement from the CLPUD.

Always interested in numbers and statistics, Kay remarked on the economics of the arts, “No matter how much one may love the symphony or theater or chamber music, it all has to work together. No one element can survive by itself; the economics of singularity simply doesn’t work in the arts.”

Kay shared her good fortune in many ways, including contributing yearly as an “Opera Host,” providing financial support to OCCA’s Metropolitan Opera “Live in HD” programming. Likewise, she was a yearly “NT Live Host,” which provided funding for OCCA’s National Theatre London “Live in HD” series. She also hosted “Great Art on Screen” HD programs, including one on her beloved fellow Norwegian, the painter Edvard Munch. She was an early Jazz Club member when OCCA was exploring ways to financially sustain the Oregon Coast Jazz Party after the Great Recession. She was actively involved with Community Legends annual meetings and the Celebrity Waiters event, and she attended Newport City Council sessions on behalf of OCCA.

Kay’s interests extended beyond the performing arts, as she was intensely interested in OCCA’s programming at the Newport Visual Arts Center, where for years she attended every exhibition opening. Kay was a strong advocate for the arts when the VAC was in jeopardy of being sold by the City of Newport and/or torn down. She participated in community meetings to save the VAC, proudly wearing the “Save the VAC” button, and quickly volunteered to serve on the new VAC Steering Committee and prove to the Newport City Council the efficacy of the building and its programming.

Kay was excited in early 2012 about OCCA’s “Entertain the Future” vision for the Newport Performing Arts Center capital campaign. She noted: “Now we begin the important job of fundraising for the [PAC] expansion and upgrade so it will be ready for growing audiences and those future generations of young aspiring artists who will launch their arts careers from the coast.” She was active on the PAC Capital Campaign Committee, hosting fundraising parties in her home and supporting fund drives and events including “Lights for LaVerne,” the Wine Tours, and privately soliciting businesses and individuals for donations.

Kay always relished stimulating conversation and friendly competition, from an intense Scrabble game at her dining table to leading the OCCA team (the CoasTarts) to many victories at the annual Newport High School fundraising spelling bee.

Her zest for life, art, music, food, and friendship also manifested itself in her prodigious travels. With a revolving core group of close friends, she traveled widely and often, visiting music festivals, art museums, cultural heritage sites, and culinary destinations in Europe, Mexico, and the United States. She was a regular at the Abbey Bach Festival in Mount Angel, Oregon, and one year she enrolled in a painting class in Tuscany.

Even after her increasing heart problems prevented her from traveling or being as active as before, Kay maintained a lively engagement with politics and civic life, supplying her friends with a steady stream of emailed cartoons, articles, and commentary. Always an avid reader, she was never at a loss to recommend a book. Friends picked her up for the Symphony, Met Opera HD broadcasts, plays, and other productions when she was able.

A great lover of animals as well as the arts, Kay was an early and loyal supporter of Friends of Lincoln County Animals. Her cats Fiore and Micia often appeared in the FOLCAS pet calendar, and she donated many fine items, during her life and after, to their Pick of the Litter thrift store.

A reception in remembrance of Kay will be held on Saturday afternoon, June 10, at 2:00 pm in the PAC lobby. All are invited. Those unable to attend are encouraged to submit reminiscences of Kay to be shared on that occasion, to Catherine Rickbone, P.O. Box 1810, Newport, OR 97365 or email: crcre8s@newportnet.com.

In acknowledgement of Kay’s arts advocacy, friends may contribute to the OCCA PAC Capital Campaign, Phase 7, to help fund sound and seating upgrades for the David Ogden Stiers Theatre (formerly known as the Black Box). Please make check out to “Oregon Coast Council for the Arts” with a note “Capital Campaign – Moxness” and mail to OCCA, P.O. Box 1315, Newport, OR 97365.

Again, in Kay’s words: “We have so many events and opportunities right here on the coast, it’s really amazing. Much of what we have is due to the generosity of individuals who have chosen to share their good fortune. In order to have genuine local access to the arts for everyone, we must maintain a joint effort of creation, maintenance, financing, sharing, and sometimes just paying attention.”

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