Mary Dolores Moore passed away peacefully at age 96 at Good Samaritan Retirement Center near San Diego. Having lived in Fresno almost 90 years, she was an active and devoted member of St. Helen’s Catholic Church, had worked as a nurse’s aide, and offered support and a smile to anyone in need.
The Lord took her after a long and full life, in which she raised five children and helped guide the next generations in the Catholic faith. Her own son became a deacon in the Catholic church. She would take Communion to the ill and the elderly. At St. Helen’s, she served in the Legion of Mary and Altar Guild and gained many lifelong friends. She drove to Chowchilla once a month with some of those friends to participate in the Prison Ministry Program. The others were concerned about driving “so far”. She loved to drive and even in her eighties would drive by herself from Fresno to San Diego to visit her family.
Her career as a nurse’s aide at St. Agnes Hospital spanned 26 years until her retirement in 1994.
She used to always have a pot of some food on the stove, or something in the freezer in case someone dropped by. You had better have been hungry if you were coming over to her house.
She had some favorites: ice-cream, strawberry shortcake, “just a taste” of something sweet like the cookies her son had just popped out of the oven, or her own best-ever French Dip sandwiches. A special treat for her grandkids was root beer floats.
She loved being outside and all kinds of flowers. She took so much pride in being able to maintain all the flowers in her yard herself.
And then there was the music: the solemn hymns and the silly ditties she used to sing to her great-grandchildren. After her hearing and her sight were diminished and she sat quietly during Mass, she still would catch a cued-up hymn, stand, and belt out every last word.
She was born in Fresno, but she briefly lived in Los Angeles in the 1940s and has lived in San Diego for the last seven years.
Mary, known by many as Dee (or Dolores or even occasionally Lola), was born to Jose Torres and Josie Armijo Torres. In addition to sister Audrey she had sister Esther and brothers Bennie, Santos, and Bob.
She was preceded in death by sons Bill, Patrick and Kenneth.
Survivors are: sister, Audrey Kappitz; daughter, Linda Moore (Vincent); son, Michael Moore (Aimee); grandchildren, Saundra Lugar; Michael (Rachel) Moore; Meggie Gonzalez; Mollie (Matt) Thomas; great-grandchildren, Cassidy and Benjamin Rosling, Olive Moore, and Aesop and Ezra Gonzalez; and great-great grandson, Riley Patterson, several nieces and nephews, and many other family members and friends.
Mary Dolores Torres Moore was a descendant of early New Mexico families who were awarded land grants by the King of Spain more than 300 years ago.
Viewing will be held from 4-7 p.m. July 1, 2021 at Whitehurst, Sullivan, Burns & Blair Funeral Home, 836 E. Nees Ave., Fresno, CA 93720
Recitation of the Holy Rosary will be held July 2, 2021 at 10 a.m., followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m. at St. Helen’s Catholic Church, 4870 E Belmont Ave. Interment will follow at St. Peter’s Catholic Cemetery, 264 N. Blythe Ave., Fresno, CA.
