David J Moore Sr.

Born in Indianapolis March 29, 1939 and raised on the South Side, he grew up in Catholic school. He was big brother to Dan and the twins Joe and John. He was an alter boy who learned the Mass in Latin, which kept him wary and respectful under the watchful eyes of the priests and nuns. He had an affinity for football and basketball. His athletic ability and his thick dark wavy hair and blue eyes made him a looker early on.

He passed on a basketball scholarship offer to college in Cincinnati thinking other offers would come, but they didn’t. So he went to work. His reputation to hold his liquor was formidable. Then met Linda Farr of Martinsville who as the story goes drank him under the table one night in 1958. He was smitten. They married in 1959, and as two scared 20-year olds had their first child later that year.

To support himself and his family, Dave worked in factories, as a bartender, and a route driver, until his natural charm and easy humor led him into sales. It was his calling. He moved his family to Fort Wayne in 1973 for a good offer. For the next 47-plus years — through setback, heartbreak, dreams derailed and refashioned, persistence, faith, desperation, laughter, family, and stubborn pride — Fort Wayne became home. Throughout, his connection to his family in Indianapolis and points south remained strong.

His job, like many jobs, often required the best part of him, and there were times when he had little of that best part to bring home. He could have a temper. He could be selfish. He could also say he was sorry. He could be devoted and loyal to family, friends and coworkers without question, sometimes to a fault.

He liked to sing, especially at church in the pew, where his deep bass voice would resonate. He would sing often in the car along with the radio — even if he didn’t know all the lyrics, which somehow never dimmed his enthusiasm. He lectored at church in his specific? parish where his basso gave the scripture readings a little oomph. He and his wife Linda took up the call to be ministers of the Eucharist, and that gave them unlooked for connection and purpose for many years as their grown children moved into their own lives.

His wife Linda passed suddenly in 1999. It was grievous to him to the end of his life. But he learned to find solace in his church and his faith, in his children and grandchildren, in his friends, in golf, which he loved, and poker with buddies at the St Joe Athletic Club, and euchre- a lifelong pursuit he was raised on, and which he played with a fierce concentration which occasionally erupted in expletives if he and his partner got “set” because the other team was “g-d passing heavy”.

Over the last 15 years, genetics and hard living in his younger days and a lassitude toward maintaining his health began to catch up. Slowly, at first, but then insistent. He remained steadfast in his love of golf, even if only on the tv; his faith in Holy Mother Church; and a good steak or pork chop or ribs with “Haish browns” (not a typo) or ‘Merican Fries on the side. He came to his grandchildren’s events and activities and parties and performances as his body would allow.

Most trips he made in the last few years were to visit family in Utah, to attend funerals to bury friends and loved ones from younger days; the voids those left behind were made easier to bear in his friendship with his neighbors Tim and Jan. He remained stubbornly resolute to live on his own power and terms until earlier in May. He went to the hospital May 8, and moved to hospice two days later, aware and lucid, exhausted from the pain, ready to meet his god, hoping he had made amends for his trespasses. He passed in his sleep without pain.

Dave is joined in his new life by friends and family who have gone before and are holding a table for him: his mother Doris, father James, brothers Dan and Joe, uncles and aunts, friends and in-laws young and old — and his wife Linda, who probably greeted him with a baleful glance and a shrill “Just like a Moore, always taking your own sweet time!”

He is survived by three children, Kimberley (Mark Andrews), David Jr (Rayne), Jeffery (Heather Brackeen), six grandchildren, Evan (Caroline), Hannah, Zoe, Ren, Cutler, and Ella, his little brother John who brought him a fifth of Jim Beam in hospice, oodles of nieces, nephews, and cousins, in-laws, and his sisters and brothers in faith.

Mass of Christian Burial will be 10 am Friday May 21, 2021 at The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church 1122 S. Clinton Street, Fort Wayne, IN with visitation one hour prior. Visitation also from 5-8 pm Thursday May 20, 2021 at D.O. McComb and Sons Lakeside Park Funeral Home 1140 Lake Ave Fort Wayne, IN. Private burial in Catholic Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Masses, Arthritis Foundation or SCAN. To sign the online guestbook go to www.mccombandsons.com