Moxie Lieberman
1970 – 2026
Moxie Lieberman, age 55, died on February 5, 2026 at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, WA after a prolonged illness. She was an artist, educator, author, and, most of all, a human being. And what a human being she was!
She entered the world as Melisa Lieberman in 1970 in New York City, and grew up in Corte Madera, CA. She attended Redwood High School, graduating in 1988, as she put it, “mostly based on charm.” She performed in several musicals, including Company and Guys and Dolls.
She was hospitalized for the first time at 19, left with permanent lung damage that significantly impacted her ability to function. She couldn’t walk across a room without stopping to catch her breath, and eventually relied on supplemental oxygen. She lived with the contradiction of significant physical limitations, which worsened over time, and powerful personal strength and resilience.
She went to College of Marin where she met her husband, Paul, in a journalism class. She was 22, he was 18. Thus began their love story, filled with wicked humor and extraordinary devotion. They moved to Seattle in 1998, where her life as Moxie began. It started as a nickname while working at a video store. When she started at the Boys & Girls Club, there was already another Melissa. To minimize confusion, she offered to go by Moxie, quickly realizing the nickname felt like a homecoming. Like she was always supposed to be Moxie.
While her own childhood was challenging, she made each child feel recognized and celebrated, encouraged their interests, and helped them feel safe. She was magnetic and they adored her. Among the many lessons she taught the children was that fat is just another adjective, like tall or purple. She built a staff united in caring for children with empathy and originality. Moxie knew art was for everyone and belonged everywhere. One summer, she chose the theme “Art Attack,” with activities that included making paper flowers and handing them out to people on the street.
She poked wool unlike anyone else, and her sculptures were exhibited in Bellevue, Washington, New York City, and Los Angeles. You can visit her wall-sized piece “Control 2.0” at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, where it is on permanent display. In 2009, she earned a Fiber Arts certificate from the University of Washington, and published her book, I Felt Awesome, a guide to needle felting in 2010.
She led many workshops spreading the love of this art and craft. Over the years, her art practice evolved to include many mediums, such as painting, collage, and drawing. She was a courageous communicator and connector of people on behalf of art. She rapidly went from vending at Urban Craft Uprising, a Seattle arts and craft fair, to its Director of Vendor Relations. If it wasn’t already obvious, Moxie was a natural born leader.
With COVID-19 and the government’s failure to make public spaces safe for immunocompromised people, Moxie and Paul quarantined for the past six years, excluding them from much of social life. Even in this isolating, often dispiriting landscape, Moxie continued to connect with the world through online art classes and hangouts with friends; through movies, television, literature, amateur radio (callsign K7MOX), and other media; and through engaging in her daily art practice. She was sharp-witted, empathetic, and fiercely committed to art, socialism, the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model of therapy, her rescued cats, and the people in her life.
She was many things – artist and art teacher, child care expert, student and practitioner of IFS. Throughout, she continued to learn and grow and become an even more grounded person – an amazing feat considering how thoughtful she was from the beginning. She was attentive, welcoming of any and all complicated feelings, accountable to herself and others, and willing to have the hard and honest conversations. She was so funny, and even more fun to make laugh because her laugh was like the sun.
Her many loves are too long to list in full, but include cooking and rejigging recipes, Stephen Sondheim and the magic he created, healing trauma and personal growth, urban wildlife, living in a society based on human need instead of private profit, karaoke, and elaborate voting systems for movie nights. She possessed a voracious curiosity that continued until the end.
Moxie was preceded in death by her parents, Eugene and Kerin Lieberman in 2006 and 2009, respectively, and by beloved pets. She is survived by her husband, Paul Palinkas, her sister, Rachel J. Lieberman, as well as many friends. Moxie often said she wanted to help a tree grow when she died; thanks to Recompose in Seattle, we’re able to make that a reality.
Moxie’s Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, June 20 from 11am – 2pm at Owen Beach Pavilion in Tacoma, WA. Soil will be distributed for attendees to take home. All are welcome to attend; please RSVP via email to rsvp4moxie@iCloud.com for further updates as we approach the time of the event.