86 year old retired engineer uses new trade to help others

Wayne Dupree

His name is Ed Mosley and he’s 86 years old. He’s reached a point in his life where he wants to contribute but he doesn’t know what to do. I know how that feels because my mom is 92 years old and she tries her best to stay active.

Mosley’s spirit of wanting to help and bring smiles to families’ faces is therapeutic for him as it would be for happy people who want to make everyone they come in contact with to feel a sense of love and warmth.

Mosely didn’t know how to help, so he joined a class at his assistant living residence that taught him how to knit premie hats. That was all he needed and now he’s an assembly line for producing premie hats for little babies!
(This despite his age and condition of hands and fingers!)

From AJC.com:

Ed Moseley can no longer play golf. The 86 year old with limited mobility can no longer dance, but the retired engineer recently led the way at his senior living community by demonstrating you are never too old to learn new things – and help others.

It all started in July when staff at seven Dogwood Forest Assisted Living communities urged residents to be part of an outreach program to knit caps for preemies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Northside Hospital. But there was only one problem, or so it seemed.

Moseley, who lives at the Acworth residence, didn’t know how to knit but, with the support of family, Moseley taught himself how to knit using a loom kit. Since then, he’s knitted over 50 preemie caps in a rainbow of colors. He’s also inspired others to learn to knit, including other residents and children at his granddaughter’s school (where his granddaughter is a teacher).

Before long, people were dropping off completed knitted caps to Moseley’s room and dropping off balls of yarn for him to knit. Staff at the residence also knitted caps and were also encouraging, Moseley said.

“When they started this project a few months back, I told my daughter about it and I said, ‘How can I knit? What do I need to do?’ and, bless her heart, she went to Jo-Anns [Fabrics] and got a kit, yarn and instruction kit for me. So I started slowly and learned.  It just takes patience,’” he said.

Such a great story, and I am glad Mr. Mosley found a way to be productive and to make others happy.  We need more Americans like this around so we don’t lose our way.

What are you doing to make others happy during this Holiday season?