Vi Moore
June 25, 1921 - May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009 10:14 AM PDT
Winston, Ore.
Formerly of Owyhee Jct.
We, the family of Vi Moore, wish to honor her memory with a celebration of her life. She will be GREATLY missed.
Her adventure began in Veneta, Ore., on June 25, 1921. As a girl growing into womanhood, she saw and experienced many world-changing events such as the wiping out of polio, the Great Depression, the bombing of Pearl Harbor and WWII. Since TV had not been invented at the time of WWII, families gathered around the radio for news and information about the war in Europe and the Pacific, as well as for entertainment. Radio shows such as “The Shadow,” “Fibber Magee and Molly” and “Dragnet” were played out with great drama to capture the audience’s imagination. The “Big Band Era” opened up the world of music, and, oh, how Vi loved to dance!
She later fell in love with country music and Conway Twitty. She was an only child, always wishing for a baby brother or sister, but that dream went unfulfilled. Instead, she gathered many friends along the way. Her mom, Bernice Fountain, an outstanding teacher, instilled in Vi the desire for excellence in academic achievement. Along with her straight “A” grades, she excelled in sports, becoming a four-year letterman as a star basketball player. After graduation, Vi moved to Portland, Ore., to pursue a career, working at a variety of jobs from bakery worker to a machinist during WWII.
She met and married Dick Fore, a mechanic. They had a baby daughter, Gloria Jean, in July of 1943. Then Dick was called into service, and off to war in Europe he went. After Dick returned from Italy, Helen Marie completed the family in November of 1946. Five years later, in November of 1951, Dick’s time on earth expired, leaving Vi to raise two rambunctious daughters on her own. Life was not easy for the young widow in Lakeview, Ore., a small ranching and logging town, but, being a hard worker, she was able to survive.
She taught her daughters the solid work ethic: “Give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay,” and “Do the best you can at whatever you do.” She taught them practicality and modest living skills. Daughter Gloria married and gave Vi three grandchildren, Debra, Shelley and Ken Smith, whom Vi always loved and enjoyed seeing when circumstances allowed. They, in turn, married and produced many great- and great-great-grandchildren. Daughter Helen married and gave Vi an additional grandson, Chuck, with whom a loving relationship was forged. Chuck and his wife, Cathy, produced another great-granddaughter for Vi. In 1962, Vi married Bert Moore and she gained a stepson, Bill, whom she loved as if her own son. They have remained close throughout the years, and he and his wife, Marsha, brought a lot of joy into her life.
Vi’s much-loved dad, John, went to heaven in 1970, leaving a big hole in her heart because they were very close. He taught her to love the earth and the beauty it gave us. Bert and Vi cared for her grieving mom, Bernice, moving her from Elmira, Ore., to Klamath Falls, Ore., to be near them. Vi and Bert had many wonderful years together, sharing a love for hunting, fishing, as well as camping, and they were avid “rock hounds.”
Bert retired in 1976, and they moved to Owyhee Junction in Eastern Oregon, taking Bernice with them. They turned their hobby of “rock-hounding” into a business of creating and selling unique jewelry, and Vi discovered a new love: painting beautiful scenes of the great Northwest that she loved so much. Sadly, Vi became a widow a second time in 1981 and was utterly devastated. As with all grief, it gradually lessened as she took on new challenges in her life. Her mom joined her dad, John, in heaven in 1986. As a catharsis to her grief, Vi wrote a series of articles she titled “Singlehood” that identified, usually in a humorous way, the many challenges a widow faces, everything from coaxing a cranky lawnmower to keep running one more season to learning how to change the water pump on her camping trailer.
In 1991, Vi joined daughter Helen and her son-in-law Terry Guillory in Mississippi where they had moved, and she and Helen made a “pilgrimage” back to Oregon every two years, visiting family and friends. Vi loved to travel and see all the beauty and scenic wonders God created across our nation.
Terry retired in July of ’03, and, four months later in November, the family returned to Oregon, settling in Winston, where Vi lived with Terry and Helen until her life’s journey ended on Friday, May 22, 2009, after a long illness.
There will be a two-hour visitation from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday May 27, 2009, at Taylor’s Family Chapel, 245 S.W. Main St. in Winston, for family and friends to pay their respects.
She will be laid to rest with a graveside service on Friday, May 29, 2009, near her beloved Bert in the Owyhee Cemetery situated on Owyhee Avenue, west of Nyssa, Ore.
Arrangements are under the direction of Taylor’s Family Chapel.
