Bob Moore

"Going to meet my Maker" – words Bob Moore spoke two weeks before he actually made that journey on January 19, 2019. Born January 31, 1928 to Minnie Sprinkle and Buford Moore in Huntington, West Virginia, his life story accurately depicts "the self-made man". "Bobby" was nine years old and an only child when his father passed away at age thirty three while his mother remained ill in a TB sanitarium the majority of her life. He moved from one relative to another throughout his school years. Although difficult he made the adjustments, skipped two grades along the way and graduated from high school at sixteen. He enrolled at the University of Kentucky with savings from his simultaneous jobs as an ice and paper delivery boy, soda jerk and Kroger employee.

When he turned seventeen and a half, he became old enough to enlist in World War II and spent his career in the Navy as a medical corpsman. Upon his father's death-bed he told him "to be a good boy and take care of his mother", so at nineteen Bob brought his mother to San Francisco. She was immediately hospitalized for TB and not released for seven years. His mother lived the remaining years of her life with Bob, Irene and his young family. He had great admiration for both parents and dedicated his autobiography as a tribute to them. "To my mother and father, Buford and Minnie, whose lessons and memory continue to inspire me".

Bob met Irene Koziara on a blind date and was immediately smitten. In 1950 they were married and were blessed with three children: Dave, Kevin and Bryn Moore. After marriage Bob graduated from college at the University of California at Berkeley. He was the first in his family to graduate. The following year he attended the Graduate School of International Management in Phoenix, Arizona.

Bob and Irene moved back to California and camped out in a state park and then lived with friends while he looked for a job in a medical field. He was hired by G.D. Searle & Co. and spent his entire professional life working in the pharmaceutical industry. He started his career as a sales representative, and continued to thrive as district, regional managers, national director of marketing and training. He also became the COO for Amersham/Searle in partnership with the British government in the field of nuclear medicine. In his autobiography he states the following about his work. "I found three principles to be paramount: Integrity, Credibility and Empathy. I call them the ICE principles. They are important not only in selling but in all human relationships."

During his pharmaceutical career Bob and his family lived in California, Colorado, New Jersey, Illinois, and finally in Argyle, Texas, just outside of Denton. He wholeheartedly, the only way he did anything, embraced Tex-Mex food, blue bonnets, and Willie Nelson. He was also proud that Miss America, Phyllis George, was from Denton.

All three children graduated college in Texas. Dave graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelors and then a Masters degree in electrical engineering, Kevin with a BS followed by an MS in forestry from Stephen F. Austin State, and Bryn with a BA in fine arts from North Texas State, all in the 1970's. As the first in his family to graduate college, Bob was extremely proud of the education levels achieved by his children and grandchildren, and tried to attend every high school and college graduation ceremony. He is survived by Dave and his wife Kathy, Boerne, Texas; Kevin and his wife Cindy, Chiloquin, Oregon; Bryn, Terlingua, Texas; four grandchildren and, as of January 21, 2019, eight great grandchildren, with a ninth due soon.

Irene passed unexpectedly in 1983 in Argyle, Texas. This was a dark period in Bob's life, but his faith in God helped him through. He moved several times, to Denton, and the Trophy Club. He and Irene had visited the Hill Country often to play tennis and relax, and had talked about retiring there. He sold the Trophy Club house and moved to Horseshoe Bay to start the next chapter in his life.

The new chapter included another blind date named Phyllis Jack. They had a mutual friend who suggested they meet. As Bob says in his autobiography, "God has always provided. Time and again I have known His presence in my life. This time the angel's name was Phyllis." After a friendship of almost ten years the two were married in 1995.

Phyllis moved from Fort Worth and Bob from Horseshoe Bay to Austin where they began life anew - Bob, recently retired, Phyllis continuing her career in education. Both enjoyed making new friends, volunteering, traveling extensively, and especially appreciating their new found focus at Riverbend Church.

Family has always been high on the priority list for both. The blending of two families gave them a special bond. Joining with the other family members named above were Phyllis' daughter, Julie Rodgers (a graduate of UT Arlington in the legal field), and son, Michael (a graduate of U. North Carolina in business) and his wife, Angela Jack. Also seven additional grandchildren and six great grandchildren followed. The family Bob missed as a child became a very large one in his older years. A grand total of forty-four immediate family members (including spouses) were in his life.

In the closing of his autobiography Bob states, " I am not among the bruised, the battered or the bored, but I am surely among the blessed."

A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, January 26 at 2:00 p.m. in the Chapel at Riverbend Church, Capital of Texas Highway, Austin. In lieu of flowers, charitable contributions may be sent to honorflightaustin.org or riverbend.com

Excerpts from Bob Moore's

Autobiography, Buford's Boy

January, 2005

The following provides a look into Bob's personality and philosophy on life.

He continued to kick up his heels, enjoy his family and friends relate his witty stories and pray to his Heavenly Father until 2019, just 12 days short of his 91st birthday.

Introduction

Willie Nelson's opening lines in his autobiography are, "They say the first sentence in a book is the hardest to write. Thank God, that's over."

Epilogue – 2000 and Beyond

It is May of 2005. I am now seventy-seven years old and in a few more years I will join the ranks of the elderly. It continues to be a great ride. I have achieved neither fame nor wealth but those illusory objectives were never my goal. "Be a good boy and take care of your mother", were Buford's last words to me in that darkened hospital room sixty eight years ago. Those were my goals and sometimes I have succeeded and sometimes I have not. But I have tried. I very much have always wanted to be "Buford's Boy". That has been a laudable goal worth striving for.

I suppose it is customary, when wrapping up an autobiography, to expound on one's philosophy of life, to point out where the world needs to improve, and to drop pearls of wisdom gleaned from a lifetime of hard knocks. I will spare the reader – if there are any still left – that travail. I don't imagine I have led a life substantially different than most Americans of my era. As the decades roll by we all experience births and deaths, pain and joy, frustration and elation. Sadness comes when beloved friends and relatives pass on but happiness arrives with the birth of great grandchildren. For every minus there are many more pluses.

My life certainly contains many more pluses than minuses. How else, other than a plus, could I describe a wife who suggested that my first wife's remains be placed alongside ours in Remembrance Gardens? How else could I describe children and grandchildren who continue to give us pleasure and pride? How else could I describe friends who have remained loyal for more than fifty years? How else could I describe living in a land so blessed?

Things are different now to be sure. No longer are we so concerned with the price of a loaf of bread or a pound of coffee. Now we look for a sale on bottled water! Cars now come with heated and air conditioned seats. Our TV may be digitalized and highly defined. And our roller coasters are forever higher and more terrifying.

But most things remain the same. Politicians still exaggerate and lie. Volunteers still make the world go 'round. Dogs are still faithful. Money talks. And laughter still soothes the soul.

The hardest thing, when writing an autobiography, is to compose the last sentence. Thank God, that's over.