Robert Walker Moore

Robert (Bob) Walker Moore, 98 passed away at the LaLoma Care Center April 15, 2021.  Bob was born on February 26,1923 in Cedar Rapids. Iowa.  His parents were Howard Walker Moore and Ruth Jenkins Moore.  His family moved to Los Angeles early in his life and at the age of 14 it was decided he would live with his Uncle and Aunt Jim and Lola Taylor in Arizona.  After Peoria High School Bob attended Phoenix Junior College and was studying at CalTech in Pasadena when the war broke out.

Bob was a pilot at heart born at the sweet spot between the Wright Brothers and WWII.    While working as a draftsman at Goodyear Aviation he enrolled in the Civil Pilot training program offered at Phoenix Junior College and completed this program with a Private Pilot license in 1941.   Bob was commissioned an Ensign in the Navy in 1943 and began his naval career as an aviator.  He excelled in training and served the effort as a flight instructor at Glenview NAS and later a Naval Air Transport Pilot in the South Pacific.

During this period Bob began an on and off acquaintanceship with a young lady who was a friend of his Aunt.  This eventually led to Mickey becoming his wife.  Those nuptials might have come a lot earlier in their lives, but Mickey had enlisted as a SPAR in the Coast Guard and was assigned to duty in Ketchikan, Alaska.

In 1946, with the war over, Bob enrolled at the U of A to finish his engineering degree. Bob and Mickey were married in 1947.  It was at this time he and his Uncle Jim purchased their first plane, an Ercoupe.  As a down payment for the bird they traded the family car. This left them with a red Ford pickup with no doors.  Bob flew the plane back to Waddell on weekends to help Jim out on the farm.  After graduation from U of A the Navy offered Bob a position in a newly developed recruiting program.  They moved to Long Beach, California.  Bob loved Naval Aviation and Mickey loved farming so they took their first child and moved back to the farm.  Bob was able to enjoy a 30+ career in the Naval Air Reserve while shouldering the formidable task of sustaining the farm for the next fifty years.

Bob excelled flying the P2V Neptune and attained the level of Squadron Commander.  As Skipper he took his ASW squadron to Hawaii, Peru and the Caribbean where they aced the fleet exercises at Gitmo Bay.

Bob’s idea of duty was the battle with cotton, alfalfa, lettuce, mortgages and second mortgages while his idea of enjoyment was service to his country.   He was never far away from something with a propeller on its nose.  Bob was able to continue his flying career and over the years owned seven different aircraft, sometimes two at once.  Mickey often said Bob would have every dollar he has ever made if it wasn’t for airplanes.   When Bob reached the age to receive his Navy retirement pay he commented that his plan was to spend every nickel of it on avgas.   His pride and joy was a beautiful Bonanza that he flew the family to such faraway places as Nova Scotia, Anchorage, Florida and all over Mexico.  He actively sought out training challenges and maintained his civilian commercial instrument rating from age 19 through 92.

Bob and Mickey lived a full and exciting life.   They were blessed with three children: Mike Moore, Melinda Thomas and Sharon Roberson.   From those came six grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.  Bob was a dedicated board member of the Maricopa Water District and involved in Kiwanis, Arizona Cotton Growers and the early beginnings of the Wigwam and White Mountain Country Clubs.

The family is planning for a burial ceremony at the National Cemetery in Cave Creek and a celebration of life get together at the White Tanks Regional Park at a later date.   Donations are requested for Open Arms for Children, www.openarmshome.com

                                 High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,

I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew -

And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand and touched the face of God.       ~ John Gillespie Magee