Richard Moore

Richard Donald Moore, 81 of Waco, passed away at home on Thursday, February 10, 2005. A funeral mass celebrating his life and passing will be held Tuesday 2 pm, February 15 at Saint Louis Catholic Church in Waco, with Monsignor Mark Deering as the celebrant. Entombment will follow at Waco Memorial Mausoleum. Recitation of the rosary will be at 6pm Monday, February 14 at Wilkirson Hatch-Bailey Chapel on Bosque Blvd. with Deacon Jordan Pfuntner officiating. Visitation with the family will be from 5:30-9pm Monday at the funeral home. Richard Dick was born May 7, 1923, in Des Moines, Iowa, son of Charles and Caroline Topher. He had five brothers and two sisters who lived in Iowa. He enlisted in the US Air Force at the age of 17, and served in the Pacific theater during World War II as a P-38 fighter pilot. His plane was shot down in Burma, where he was captured and became a Japanese prisoner-of-war. He was liberated at the end of the war and recovered in an American hospital in Calcutta. Upon returning to the United States, he was commissioned as an Air Force Captain and assigned to Lakeland Air Force Base in San Antonio. Richard met and married Elsie M. Grier on August 17, 1946 in San Antonio. They have been married for 58 years. After his military career, Dick worked in the retail business as a buyer, and lived in Houston and Miami. He had one child in 1958. He moved to Waco with his wife and son in 1974 to work for a local small business until 1984. He then sold real estate in Waco for a few years, and retired in 1990. He was a member of the local Prisoner-of-War and Veterans of Foreign Wars Organizations and was a member of St. Louis, and later St. Jerome Catholic Church. His kind and generous spirit, devotion to practicing God’s Word, and the love of country and family were a blessing to his family and all those who knew him. He was preceded in death by his parents, bothers and sisters. Survivors include his wife Elsie, and son Richard. Pallbearers will be Charles McDaniel, John Moran, Paul Gansky, Noll Gansky, Ron Posey, and Wayne Carter. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our “Memorial Guest book” at www.wilkirsonhatchbailey.com. WILKIRSON-HATCH-BAILEY