Flora S. Moore

Flora S. Moore was born Flora McGinty on July 21, 1913 to Mary Ann Blake and John Solomon McGinty in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. She lived with her parents for a few years in Eureka Springs before they moved to Westville, Oklahoma near her father s parents. Then they moved to Miami, Oklahoma where she lived until 1950. She attended Roosevelt, Pershing and McKinley Elementary Schools, then Miami High School. She had a natural talent for art and sewing. Her mother said she could cut doll clothes any style when she was 2 years old and sew with needle and thread by hand. When her feet could reach the sewing machine pedals her mother let her use the sewing machine. She designed and made clothes for herself and others and could sew baby clothes, boys, girls, men and women s clothes, clothes for school plays, graduation dresses, western shirts, and so much more. She also made drapes and upholstered furniture. She was a part time art teacher for Kathryn Cannon at Roosevelt School in Miami. She was married to Walter L. Stotts in July 1932 in Joplin Missouri and had one son, John L. Stotts on 6-25-1933. Before marriage and all through her life she sewed for most of her relatives and others. She sometimes designed their clothes. During Roy Rogers and Gene Autry s early days in movies she made shirts like they wore for her son and other boys. Western shirts soon became he specialty. Her son and a group of boys formed a club. They wanted black shirts trimmed in white with white buttons, like Gene Autry wore so she mad each one a shirt. One of the boy s mothers took pictures and gave one to each boy. Her husband and son s father died in February 28, 1948. She and her son lived in Miami until 1950. Her son had wanted to come to California after his aunt and her family moved to California. Her son finished school at Pasadena City College and John Muir in Altadena, Ca. When her son was almost 21, she met Lloyd L. Moore in Pasadena and they were married October 11, 1953. She still did designing and sewing in Pasadena and Palm Springs, Arcadia and Yucaipa Ca. Due to her health she gave up sewing except for grand children, her son, husband and herself. Mr. Moore passed away November 2, 1993. She had many hobbies, collected sea shells, rocks like quartz, onyx, crystallites, Arkansas diamonds from Murphysboro Arkansas, picture post cards, of places they had seen and photos they took of places that interested them. She had scrap books of the Holy land, unusual hobbies of other people, cartoons, presidents and their families, U.S. documents from Washington s time to the present, a stamp collection, a book on California missions and her latest one she spent more time on was NASA Space program. She started her NASA Space program collection, after she and a neighbor in Arcadia got interested in John Glenn s orbit around the earth. The neighbor sent for a recording of John Glenn for Mrs. Moore and one for her grandsons. Mr. Moore was a chef. The jet propulsion lab in Pasadena asked him to cook for the men but he refused because there would be too much time between meals but not enough for him to drive from Pasadena to Arcadia where he lived and back to Pasadena. He would spend more time driving than working. Then about 1960, he bought Sir Guys in Pasadena. He sold it before retiring and moved to Yucaipa. After Mrs. Moore got interested in the space program, she started saving clippings from newspapers. She wrote to NASA Space Center in Houston and asked how to get photos and other things about astronauts, Space Shuttle ECT They started sending her colored pictures of every astronaut trained, biographical data books and many other things. Her nephew worked at Rockwell International in Downey and got her first jacket and space patches to sew on it. He took her to the Downey gift shop and they bought several things. The shop started sending her lists of items they had for sale. Her nephew made her a plaque with crew names of astronauts killed in the explosion of Challenger 51-L in 1986. She joined a space patch collector s club. The club put out a newsletter and asked if any members knew of 12 nurses who trained to be astronauts in the seventies. Through her research she located a man who knew the girls. They had trained at Ames/ Dryeden Flight Research Center in Moffett Field, Ca. The man sent her their names and states each lived in. She sent a copy to the space club who printed an item about her research efforts in the newsletter and sent her a gold shuttle on a chain. After the Challenger 51-L disaster she asked to speak to the boy scouts troop 10 of Yucaipa. She looked up things she thought would interest the boys like how the shuttles got their names, size, fuel used, ect.; and took her binders of astronaut photos, her jackets and space patches and other things to the Presbyterian Church where the meeting was held or the Scouts. The place was packed. She had never spoken to such a crowd before. After her speech they looked at things she had on display. Her husband s nephew came to see her and took all her collections up to the re-hall and made a video of it. A news reporter and photographer heard about her from Mr. Richardson at Richardson Pharmacy. He called her a space buff. The photographer came out and took pictures and the newspaper printed an article of her collection and her picture. There was item about her space collection in her hometown paper. Her brother told her about it. Her collection first Missile launched in the early fifties from Cape Canaveral now Kennedy Space Center. She has books and literature on Gemini, Mercury, Apollo, Sky Lab, Space Lab and Space Shuttle. There are only four shuttles, Colombia, challenger, Atlantis and Discovery. They change names on different missions. Houston Space Center, now called L.B. Johnson Space Center sent her newspaper, memorial folder and other things from the Memorial Service held in Houston for the Challenger crew that lost their lives. Bruce Phillips Counselor Minister for the Canadian Embassy wrote a letter and sent her a copy of the poem High Flight the young flier in the Canadian Air Force wrote before losing his life in flight. She also received a book of he presidential committee s possible findings of the Challenger disaster January 28, 1986, price $18.00 in USA free to her. When she an her sister went to Fayetteville, Arkansas to see their brother in the Veteran s Hospital, one of his doctors gave her a magazine that had pictures of some stepping stones of man in Oregon made out of cement, glass and plastic. He made them found and like all the Apollo Space patches. Her wish is to give her collection to the Museum Eureka Springs, Arkansas where she was born the Kennedy Space Center Library which has all kinds of things that have been donated to the library, Oklahoma or the San Bernardino California Museum. She has written poetry several years, some for her husband and son s services and friends who passed on. She has a doll collection of 50 or more dolls. She leaves some to her sister and some to Amber Curtis and Courtney Curtis. When she lived in Arcadia, one of her friends was second cousin to Martha Washington, wife of our President George Washington. She left Mrs. Moore a silver hand mirror that a friend she went to school with gave her , as well as a cream pitcher and sugar bowl and letter about her friend s mother who was Martha Washington s first cousin. The friend s name was Flora Moore and she grew up in Neasho, Missouri not far from Miami, Oklahoma where Mrs. Moore and she grew up. She had another friend who was related to Lord Francis Bacon. She was christened Lady Mary Chilton Beacon Howard. After coming to USA, her friend married Herman Voight. She has other things these women gave her. She has a letter and copy of a news paper item where her friends mother was interviewed in Indiana when they heard she was related to Martha Washington. Mrs. Moore belonged to the Colonial Dames, Chapter 380 of Pythian Sisters in Miami, Ok. and a club connected with the Rebecca or Rebekah Lodge. She and her son John L. Stott s were baptized February 10 1949 in First Christian church by Rev Russell Martin. She and Mr. Moore moved to Yucaipa September 20, 1965. Besides shells, rocks, missions, stamps, Avon collections, space ect. She has many jewelry boxes, all sizes and shapes from silver, china, tin, plastic, velvet, brocade, satin, crystal, wood and brass and glass. Her lasted venture is a doll collection and gardening, especially roses, geraniums, lilies, ect. And writing poetry when inspired. Funeral service will be held Tuesday March 23, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. at Desert Lawn Memorial Chapel with burial to follow at Desert Lawn Memorial Park in Calimesa, California.