Daughter of Early Settlers Remembered

NORTH WILDWOOD – The sea was calm as Marion Shivers Mouklas, 98, entered her eternal rest Dec. 11, attended by her son, Lorie Mouklas.
Known and loved for her quick wit and dry sense of humor, Mouklas lived her entire life in North Wildwood. Proud of her heritage, Mouklas grew up a fisherman and boat builder’s daughter.
Her parents, Lorenzo and Georgia Shivers, helped settle historic Anglesea, the future City of North Wildwood. Her grandfather, Edward Shivers, came to Anglesea in 1887. He served as mayor, councilman, and clerk throughout his life.
Mouklas’ family was instrumental in founding the First Baptist Church of Anglesea, the first church on Five Mile Island.
“I’ve been in church my whole life,” Mouklas once said, adding the nine months of her mother’s pregnancy.
“She was more than an aunt to me,” Beverly Gross Clark said Dec. 13. Clark is the daughter of Marion’s sister, Eleanor.
“She was a second mom,” Clark said, “a big sister, a fun friend, a fishing buddy. I will miss her, her ability to find a song for anything, her love for her family and friends and deep abiding faith.”
Born in 1921, Mouklas saw great changes, not only in her beloved island, but also across the country and on the world stage.
Mouklas was a child during the Great Depression, and as fascism loomed over Europe. During World War II, Mouklas worked in a factory, in Philadelphia, doing her part for the war effort.
Mouklas also enjoyed fishing and spending days out on the sea. She possessed skills in carpentry and woodworking.
She married Alexander Mouklas Aug. 25, 1956, a gunnery instructor at the University of Pennsylvania. The young woman of Irish/Welsh descent married the son of Greek immigrants, returning to raise a family of their own in North Wildwood. Mouklas cared for her aging parents until their deaths.
Council member Margaret “Peggy” Bishop knew “Al” and Marion Mouklas well. Bishop’s late husband, Lewis, attended high school with Marion and knew the Shivers family well.
“I can only say good things about them (Mouklas Family),” Bishop said previously.
Mouklas’ funeral service will be held Dec. 21 at the First Baptist Church of Anglesea. Mouklas will be interred in the Baptist Cemetery in Court House. She will rest beside her parents and others of the Shivers family.
“I have known Mrs. Mouklas and her late husband, Al, nearly my entire life,” said Mayor Patrick Rosenello, in a prepared statement, Dec. 16.
“I can distinctly recall going to their house as a child at Halloween. I then had the pleasure of taking my children to their house the past few years.
“Al and Marion were part of America’s Greatest Generation, and they certainly were a part of the greatest generation to live and contribute to the building of North Wildwood,” Rosenello continued.
“With her passing, North Wildwood has lost a link to our past, but the memory of her and her husband will not fade quickly in the hearts and minds of the people of the community they called home for so many years,” the mayor concluded.
To contact Rachel Rogish, email rrogish@cmcherald.com.