Obituary: Stanley Raymond Moore

Professor, pastor, social activist, musician, woodworker

Stanley Raymond Moore, longtime Pilgrim Place resident, died October 3, at the age of 90.

Many Claremont residents will remember him as “Stan the Music Man,” singing kids’ songs at the annual Pilgrim Place Festival. He was a founding member of the Pilgrim Pickers, a folk music ensemble, and organized and hosted the Pilgrim Place Comedy Night performances. He was also a skilled woodworker who designed and built the lectern, altar table and candle stand for Decker Hall. Claremont residents often saw Stan on the streets protesting for peace and other progressive causes.

Before moving to Claremont, Mr. Moore was for 33 years a professor and chair of  the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. He also taught religious studies, and for many years directed the university’s honors program. He was an active member of the United Church of Christ in Platteville, and later the UCC congregations in Claremont and  San Dimas. He was a regular leader of Bible study, often in association with his son Thomas.

He was born on January 12, 1930, in Milton, Massachusetts, to Raymond and Anne (McIntosh) Moore, a lawyer and homemaker. He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Lehigh University in 1951, and then a bachelor of divinity degree from Yale Divinity School in 1955. He married fellow Yale Divinity student Elizabeth Anderson and raised four children. The couple celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary this year.

After Yale, he was ordained a Presbyterian minister and served as assistant director of the student YMCA at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and then as minister of Long Valley Presbyterian Church in New Jersey, while also completing a doctorate in philosophy at Drew University.

Mr. Moore was animated throughout his life by a Christian vision of social justice. At Virginia Polytechnic, he insisted on the full inclusion of Black students in the student YMCA. He also participated in the March on Washington in 1963, and afterwards coordinated a Fresh Air program that brought underprivileged children from Chicago for vacations with Wisconsin families. In the 1970s he helped direct a program that brought Wisconsin university students to inner-city Chicago to study social policy.

He was beloved by his family, friends and students for his thoughtful concern and good cheer. He was always active writing, woodworking, playing guitar, singing, traveling, playing tennis, running and telling humorous stories, demonstrating an enthusiasm for life that even Parkinson’s Disease could not extinguish.

He is survived by his wife Elizabeth; children Thomas (Joyce), Terry, Maribeth (Bruce Coulter) and Christopher Oldstone-Moore (Jennifer); and seven grandchildren.

A memorial service will be posted at a future date. The family requests that memorial contributions be made to Pilgrim Place Health and Support Program at https://www.pilgrimplace.org/giving.

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