Obituary of Robert Edward Moore

Robert Edward Moore, known as Bob, or Bob Ed, formerly of Bagwell, passed away early Saturday morning, October 31, at an assisted living group home in Lewisville, Texas, where he was under hospice care after living in Denton for a short time. Bob was born September 5, 1921 at Cleburne, Texas to Joe Grady Moore and Clara Belle Spell Moore. His family moved to the Bagwell area when Bob was young. He graduated from Bagwell High School in 1937 and from Clarksville High School in 1939. He was a Boy Scout troop leader as a young man. Bob’s studies at Texas A & M University were interrupted by World War II. From 1944 to 1945 Bob was a radar technician with the 556th Signal Air Warning Battalion in Grindavik, Iceland. He returned from Iceland as a master sergeant and graduated from Texas A & M in 1950, with a degree in agricultural engineering. On May 16, 1953, Bob married Rachel (“RaeJeanne”) Somerville at Bagwell Baptist Church in Bagwell, Texas. That same year Bob accepted an assignment with the LeTourneau Company to test and develop cattle breeds and crops in the Amazon jungle highland area of Peru, as part of a development project for the Peruvian government. Bob and RaeJeanne were involved in the nondenominational Christian mission work of the LeTourneau Foundation, supported by the development project, in and around the community of Tournavista. The family moved to the capital city of Lima for 1965 and 1966, during which time Bob managed the company office. During their last two years in Peru, Bob and RaeJeanne were back in Tournavista where Bob established a vocational high school. All four of Bob and RaeJeanne’s children were born in Peru. Moving back to the U.S. in 1969, Bob pursued graduate studies for two years at North Carolina State University. For a year of that time he managed an alcoholic and drug rehabilitation farm under the auspices of the Raleigh Rescue Mission. He interrupted his studies to return home to Bagwell in 1972 after his father’s health began to fail. Bob was City Manager of Clarksville, Texas from 1972 to 1978. Following that he was Director of Public Works for the city of Palestine and then for the city of Jersey Village. After his initial retirement he served as Interim City Manager of Clarksville for a short time and later returned as a part-time consultant for the City of Clarksville from 2003 to 2011, when Bob retired for the final time at age 90. Ordained as a deacon at the age of 31 at Bagwell Baptist Church, Bob taught Sunday School for many years wherever the family lived. Bob and RaeJeanne were very active in the Bagwell Baptist Church until their recent move to Denton. Bob attended Highland Baptist Church in Denton for a short time before his illness. Bob was chairman of the Red River County Republican Party from 1990 to 2006 and was active in the Old Shamrock Cemetery Association. Bob was preceded in death by his sisters Johnnye Sue Moore and Mary Margaret Watley and his brothers Joe Grady Moore Jr., Jimmy Judson (“Judd”) Moore, Charles Gordon Moore and Richard Moore. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, RaeJeanne Moore of Denton; his sisters-in-law Jerry Moore of Austin and Bettye Moore of Elgin, brother George Moore of Austin, daughter Sharon Lunsford of Denton, son and daughter-in-law Robert Moore II and Wynna Smith Moore of Bagwell, daughter Sheila Boyd of Greenville, son David Moore of Austin; grandchildren Jennifer (Chris) Brown, Jeremy (Sarah) Lunsford, Sean (Kindell) Moore, Audra (Kenneth) Kelsoe, Zachary (Tosha) Boyd, and numerous great-grandchildren. The family will receive friends an hour before service time at Clarksville Funeral Home. Services will be at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, November 7, 2015, in Lindeman Chapel of Clarksville Funeral Home with Rev. Karl Bush officiating. Burial will follow in Old Shamrock Cemetery under the direction of Clarksville Funeral Home