Betty Jane Moore

A funeral service will be held Thursday, January 9, 2020, at 11:00 a.m. at the First Christian Church in Pecos, Texas, with burial to follow. A celebration of life will be held at a future date in Dallas. Memorials may be made to The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, the Salvation Army or a charity of choice.

Born Betty Jane McCarthy in Liberty, Texas, on February 7, 1931, she was the daughter of Dr. Charles Terrell McCarthy and Margaret Andrews McCarthy. She had one older brother, Charles. The family later moved to Monahans, Texas, where she graduated from Monahans High School. She attended Stephens College in Missouri, but the call of her native Texas drew her back after her first year. She then enrolled in Southern Methodist University, studying home economics and pledging Chi Omega sorority. In December 1948, lifelong friend, R. B. McGowan set her up on a blind date with her future husband of 68 years and the love of her life, Joseph Tatum Moore, Jr. (“J.T.”). She accompanied him to a Texas A&M party in Odessa, and three years later on September 11, 1951, she was walking down the aisle of the First Methodist Church of Monahans, wearing a stunning wedding dress she made herself. Betty Jane transferred once more, this time to the University of Texas to be with J.T., who was finishing law school. In her own words, “We married one Saturday night, and on Sunday we were on our way back to Austin to register for the fall semester!” Betty Jane worked in the student health center while finishing her degree.

Betty Jane and J.T. ultimately settled in his hometown of Balmorhea, Texas, where he exchanged his law briefs for a saddle and took up ranching, and Betty Jane began what she considered to be her favorite and most important roles: being a wife, mother and homemaker. Their daughter, Mary Margaret, was born in 1956 and their son, Joseph Tatum Moore III, was born in 1963, after the family moved to Pecos, Texas. In Balmorhea, Betty Jane began what would become a lifetime of volunteering in the Methodist church. She was also a substitute school teacher there. After moving to Pecos, she continued her volunteering at the First United Methodist Church where she taught Sunday school and served as the church secretary. Betty Jane loved to sew and and was a remarkable seamstress. There was absolutely nothing she could not do with a needle and thread! She was also an avid bridge player and consummate cook and hostess.

Betty Jane and J.T. moved to Dallas in 1983 to enjoy their retirement. Betty Jane continued her lifelong involvement in the Methodist church at Highland Park United Methodist Church, delivering Meals on Wheels and visiting members in nursing homes. She and J.T. traveled the world together, visiting Hong Kong, Japan and Russia as well as walking the Great Wall of China, passing through the Panama Canal, taking in Argentina, and beholding the Great Pyramids and Jerusalem. They toured all throughout Europe, with England being a particular favorite.

During her Dallas years, she also stepped into the role of “Nana” to her four grandchildren, Elizabeth Palms, Lillian Moore, Sydney Moore, and Aiden Moore. Her grandchildren could not have asked for a better grandmother. Always there to listen, read Dr. Seuss’s There’s a Wocket in my Pocket, watch impromptu at-home ballet recitals, make Christmas fudge, have tea parties, and sew countless Halloween costumes from fairy princesses and mermaids to bunnies and skunks, Betty Jane did it all.

Always caring, never without a lipstick and a string of pearls or a needle and thread, Betty Jane made the lives of her family and friends happier and brighter. She always made sure that her family knew how much she loved them not only through her words but through her countless acts of kindness and service. We miss her already but are comforted that she is finally home in Heaven. So we celebrate this wonderful woman of Christ and loving, steadfast daughter, wife, mother, and grandmother. She was truly a Proverbs 31 woman and can honestly say, “I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished the race.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

She was preceded in death by her brother, Dr. Charles Terrell McCarthy, Jr. and her beloved infant daughter, Elizabeth Jane Moore. She is survived by her husband, J.T. Moore, Jr., her daughter and son-in-law, Mary Margaret and Ed Palms of Denver, and her son and daughter-in-law, Tatum and Kimberly Moore of Austin. She is also survived by her four grandchildren, Elizabeth Palms of Denver and Lillian Moore, Sydney Moore, and Aiden Moore, all of Austin.

A celebration of Betty Jane’s life will be held in Cox Chapel at Highland Park United Methodist Church on Friday, January 17 at 10 a.m. A reception at the church will follow the service. Memorials may be made to The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, the Salvation Army or a charity of your choice.