Herman D. Moses

Born on March 5, 1934 in Lamar, SC, Herman David Moses was the youngest of Roxie Wheeler Joe Moses’ 11 children. He was the third child born to Roxie with her second husband, Joseph Moses. Herman grew up doing farm work and attending schools in the Lamar area until he graduated from Spaulding High School in 1952. He migrated to New York City and two years in the United States Army took him even farther from home, to service in Alaska where he experienced the midnight sun. On June 3, 1956, Herman married Mary Doris Davis. They settled into life in Queens and had two children, David in 1959 and Roxanne in 1961. Herman joined the New York Police Department in 1962. With his brothers in blue, he responded to a huge bank robbery on Broadway, marched in Richard Nixon’s second inaugural parade and eventually rose to the rank of detective. In 1975, his wife Mary passed away. As Herman was putting his children through college, he married Annette Olive Singleton on April 14, 1979. He retired from the NYPD in 1985, moved back to Lamar in the summer of 1989, and welcomed four grandchildren; Natalie (1987), Amanda (1991), Emma (1995), and Joseph (1998). Widowed again after Annette’s passing in 2006, Herman continued to enjoy a full life. He loved playing bid whist, cutting the grass on his riding mowers and cooking up treats in his kitchen. No one made better fried chicken or banana pudding. He loved watching television, especially the NFL, soap operas, game shows, judge shows and cop shows. He traveled to precinct reunions and family reunions, enjoyed serving as deacon at Bethany Baptist Church and loved being a source of advice and support to anyone who reached out to him. We lost Herman on May 27, 2023. Left to love and remember him are his son, David and his wife Brenda, his daughter Roxanne and her husband Jeff Whitney, one sister, Elouise Byrd-Bailey, and his devoted nephew, Knorphe Byrd (Lynn). He is also survived by his granddaughters Natalie (John Higginson), Amanda (Joseph Einbinder) and Emma, his grandson Joseph, great-granddaughter Elouise Einbinder, great-grandson, Jax Higginson, and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.