Lyn Misner is a relatively new member of the Big Ocean Women community, and she brings with her a wealth of wisdom and understanding from her life.
Lyn grew up in what she describes as a “wonderful family” as the oldest of five children. She feels it was a blessing to have had her paternal grandparents live very close by as well. She shared that when she was seven her “mother developed rheumatic fever and had a lot of heart damage.” Because of this diagnosis, the doctor ordered nine months of bed rest. Through this time she learned to not take her mother for granted. She also learned from her parents’ example of never complaining about trials to always make the best of things. Her grandmother helped her to get ready for school while her mother was unable, and there was a teenaged girl who helped during the summer. Through it all, her father still took her and her younger siblings to church because of his strong convictions, which was another great example to Lyn.
During this hard time and throughout her life, Lyn was able to look to her parents and both sets of grandparents for good examples. She explained that she never wanted to do anything that would disappoint them. She was also thankful for the confidence they gave her to try new things and work toward her worthy goals to find success.
After the example and support of her family, Lyn credits the shaping of her character to experiences with “education, reading and study, travel, family, and church – not necessarily in that order.” She also said, “Having survived cancer twice and having my husband die from a brain tumor have certainly shaped me greatly as well. Everyone has challenges; mine just seem to mostly be health-related.”
While having and raising her children, Lyn worked on her university degree and studied history and foreign languages then worked to earn her Master in Reading Education. Lyn taught middle school and also shared, “I enjoy learning things and have taken all sorts of classes over the years.”
Since she is now retired and widowed, and because she loves to travel, she bought a small motorhome. She says, “I think it probably drives my kids crazy when I take off by myself on long trips, but I enjoy it.” She has been very interested and involved in genealogy and family history, quilting, crocheting, and reading nonfiction and historical novels, but she says, “My greatest accomplishment is my children. They have become fine adults and are accomplishing many of their own goals. I love them and my grandchildren so much.”
It is clear that Lyn lives the tenets of Big Ocean Women. Here are a few examples: Tenet 1 states, “We believe in God and are women of faith,” and she says, “My belief in God shapes everything I do.” Tenet 4 states, “We value the irreplaceable role of fathers and build interdependent relationships with men.” Lyn says, “I think the interdependence between a man and a woman make the strongest possible working relationship. I appreciate so much that my mother-in-law raised a son who valued me and allowed us to build a relationship that enabled us to both be better and stronger as individuals and as a couple.” Tenet 8 states, “We seek after knowledge and wisdom,” and she says, “All my life I have loved to learn and to try to apply what I learn wisely. I wanted to be a teacher from the time I was very young because I love sharing knowledge.”
Lyn has been shaped by the examples of her parents and grandparents, the successes and trials of life, the choices to pursue wisdom and knowledge and to be a wife and mother. We are so thankful to be able to interact with her and to be blessed by her sharing her talents in writing with us now each month. This is what Lyn hopes women everywhere will know:
“What I hope for women everywhere is that each one will know and understand the strength and stability they can bring to their own lives and to those with whom they interact each day. I am saddened when I see women who seem to devalue themselves through their actions and speech or who don’t feel they are ‘enough.’ I believe women need one another and that we can help one another become the best of ourselves.”
