The campus community mourns the passing of John William “Bill” Moore, who died on Monday, July 1. Bill retired in 1992 as Professor Emeritus of Education after 33 years of service to Bucknell.
Included below is the complete text of the obituary, as provided by the family. Services were held on Saturday, July 6.
You are encouraged to visit our In Memoriam Site at bucknell.edu/InMemoriam and share personal notes of sympathy and remembrance with others.
On behalf of our entire University community, I extend our deepest sympathies to Bill’s family, as well as to all who knew him at Bucknell.
John C. Bravman
President
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John William “Bill” Moore, 91, of Lewisburg, passed away peacefully on Monday, July 1, 2019, at the home of his daughter, Ginger Sillhart of Wyomissing.
He was born March 7, 1928, in Brookville, a son of the late John Thompson and Josie May (Meadows) Moore. On Aug. 25, 1961, he married the former Laura Phillipine Battenberg and his death breaks a marital union of nearly 58 years.
Bill graduated from the Corsica Union High School in 1945, Clarion State Teachers College in 1948 with a BS in Math and Science, and Penn State with Masters of Education in 1956 and Ed. D. in 1959. He served in the Army from 1953-1955 at Sandia Base, Albuquerque, N.M.
Bill was a teacher in Brookville Area School District from 1948 until he began as a professor at Bucknell University in 1959, where he was Chair of Department of Education from 1963-1992. He was a consultant, traveled extensively nationally and internationally, was a commercial real estate developer and a farmer.
He received the PA State Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Education in 1962, the Lindbach Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching at Bucknell in 1978, and acquired numerous grants for Bucknell including from the Ford Foundation.
Bill was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Lewisburg.
He enjoyed hunting, fishing, the great outdoors and fishing trips to Canada. He enjoyed playing cards and other games, reading, farming, telling stories, family history, planning, advising, working hard to provide for and give to others, and studying the Bible. He was totally committed to and always gave maximum effort to everything he did, rose to challenges, enjoyed pursuing goals, delighted in giving to others and encouraging others, desired to do what was right in the eyes of his Lord and Savior and spread the Gospel. He loved his family and others deeply. He felt blessed and tremendously grateful for the life that he lived.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by three children, William Arthur Moore and wife Nancy, Laura Josie Moore, and Virginia Kathleen (Ginger) Sillhart and husband Stephen; four grandchildren, Laura S. Moore, Holly T. Moore, Molly J. Sillhart and John William Sillhart; and two sisters, Catherine Moore McCoy and Virginia Moore Means.
He was preceded in death by one sister, Emma Margaret Moore Frey.
Friends and relatives will be received from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, July 5, at the John H. Shaw III Funeral Home, Market Street, Lewisburg. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 6, in the First Presbyterian Church, 18 Market St., Lewisburg, with the Rev. Alec B. Wendell and CPL Robert Kribbs officiating.
Burial will follow in the Lewisburg Cemetery Donations in Bill’s memory may be made to Expectations Women’s Center, P.O. Box 291, Lewisburg, PA 17837, Young Life (National), P.O. Box 70065, Prescott, AZ 86304-7065, or to Young Life Susquehanna Valley (local), P.O. Box 521, Lewisburg, PA 17837.
I met Bill shortly after I joined the Bucknell faculty in 1989. And to this day, I hold many fond memories of him (and his family) in my heart. I am eternally grateful for his unselfish support and his sage guidance. Both were always offered with a warm smile and a firm handshake.
Thank you Bill!