Molly Moxam Kalifut

Molly Abiatha Moxam Kalifut of Gambrills, Maryland, passed away at the age of 67 on Saturday March 25^th, 2023. She was in her own home and surrounded by her loving family. This concluded a year-long battle with cancer, a diagnosis she met with the gentle courage, wry humor, and inquisitiveness that characterized her life and outlook.

Molly was born on May 4^th, 1955 in Flint, Michigan, to Beth Cowing and Keith Moxam. She was the youngest of four children and the only girl. Molly described her childhood as a time of bright and vivid imagination – she would write stories and make picture books and have long, intense debates with God on the nature of the universe.

She joined a community of fellow thinkers and dreamers when she entered Kenyon’s class of 1977, one of the first that included women. In typical Molly fashion, her most cherished memories of college were not of fraternity parties or lived-in bars, but of debating her professors, writing papers, and contemplating great thinkers like John Locke and Thomas Hobbes.

In her post-collegiate career, she was (in her own words) a terrible waitress, and a much less terrible journalist for a local Michigan paper, where she enjoyed interviewing people who lived just slightly off the beaten path and crafting the perfect opening sentence. She eventually moved to the DMV and became a writer for the University of Maryland Medical Center. She also happened to meet Gregg Kalifut, another fellow Kenyon alum who lived in Annapolis, whom she married in 1985.

Molly and Gregg moved to Annapolis, where they welcomed their only child, Maxwell, to whom she was a devoted and adoring mother. She eventually served as a writer and editor for the Maryland State Judiciary, from which she retired in March 2020. She spent many memorable summers Up North in Frankfort, Michigan at Beau Rivage, a cabin by Lake Michigan where she watched the lake and anxiously awaited the green flash of sunset over the horizon while enjoying the elegant time of the day with her family.

In her retirement, Molly enjoyed spending time with her family – her own Moxam side and her in-laws, the Kalifuts, who immediately and irrevocably accepted her as part of the family. Molly’s family also included her pets, as she had many beloved animals over the course of her life. She also found ways to continue her passion of intellectual pursuits, particularly as a participant in St. Johnn’s College community seminars, where she begrudgingly admired Faulkner and was vindicated in her passion for Austen to her son.

This is all to say that Molly approached the world with a kind heart, a sincere curiosity for the things she did not understand, and a quietly fierce love of life. She enjoyed her simple pleasures – her books, her British murder shows, her card games – she adored her family in all its variety, and she fought to stay here as long as she could. In her last few months, Molly spoke about hearing her brothers Andy and Guy Moxam – the former having passed in 2018, the latter having passed from cancer himself earlier this year – calling to her in her dreams.

Molly is survived by her husband Gregg and son Maxwell, as well her brother Frank Moxam, sisters-in-law Kimberly Kalifut-Jarvis and Linda Moxam, as well as many wonderful nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, grand-nephews, beloved cousins, and invaluable friends. She was preceded in death by her brothers Andrew and Guy Moxam, and parents Beth Cowing and Keith Moxam.

A celebration of her life will be held at a date to be determined. In lieu of flowers, the family wishes contributions be made to a charity of choice.