Mamie Ruth Skinner Moore, 82, of Beaumont died Monday, March 14, 2005 in Beaumont.
Mamie was a quiet, gentle, kind person with the strength and perseverance that embodied the pioneer spirit. Born in Newton, Mississippi on April 7, 1922, she was the oldest surviving child of eight children. The family was poor, as were many families during the Great Depression and World War II. She worked in cotton fields while attending school, helping with housework and the raising of younger siblings.
At age seventeen, she moved to Arkansas having secured a secretarial position to the then, Governor Cherry of the state, and was employed by “OSS” after the war. Also worked for Strong and Pipkin, Bell and Blair. Mamie was a paralegal and legal secretary for John P. Blair, Chief Legal Council for First Federal Savings and Loan, Allen McNeil and Thomas Sibley. She sent a portion of each paycheck back home to help her mother, father, brothers and sisters. She met and married businessman, William Paul Thompson in 1944 and bore two children, Laurence P. Thompson and Linda C. Thompson. The family moved to Beaumont in 1953. Mamie and William Paul were divorced in 1956.
As a single parent at a time when single parenthood was not commonplace, Mamie Moore supported herself and her two children through her own efforts as a legal secretary to some of Beaumont’s most prominent attorneys. She met William Frank (Bill) Moore in 1960 and they were married June 19, 1962. It was a second marriage for both and both found deep abiding love in their relationship. They lived devotedly as husband and wife until Bill Moore’s death in March of 1995. Bill Moore was a native of Beaumont, president of his class at Beaumont High School all four years he attended, a decorated bomber pilot in World War II and known to many who went on to be judges and senators from Texas as well as those he worked with for forty-plus years at Mobil Oil Refinery.
Mamie Moore was proud of her husband, as she was of her children. Her delight was in helping others in making a difference in their lives. She offered her knowledge of legal matters to all in the community who sought her advice. She did tax returns, explained insurance policies, social security forms, wills and trusts to all who asked. She helped hundreds over her lifespan better their living conditions. She never accepted recompense of any kind for these services.
In 1992, Roberts Avenue Methodist Church of which Mamie Moore and family had been members for decades, merged with McCabe Methodist Church. Yet the real merger was one of racial integration. In her quiet way, Mamie Moore began informally inviting a few friends of both the African-American and Caucasian races to her home for coffee and conversation. Her bridge-building efforts led to the minister nicknaming her “The Mayor” of the new, vibrant community that emerged in the church. McCabe Roberts Avenue Methodist Church was the focus of a PBS Radio story as an example of the enriching and enabling results of racial integration.
Mamie Ruth Skinner Moore loved motherhood. She instilled in her children the sense of individual contribution that she herself lived. She believed one person could make a difference; she lived with impeccable honor; and her frequent prayer said quietly and heard by only a few were “Make me a channel of blessings to others, Oh Lord.”
May those blessings surround her a thousand fold as she continues her soul’s journey beyond this realm.
Survivors include her daughter, Linda C. Thompson of South Port, Connecticut; her son, Larry P. Thompson and his wife Sherry of Austin; her sisters, Lillian Wallace of Pensacola, Florida, Quida Slayton, Carolyn Espey and her husband J. W. all of Meridian, Mississippi, and Dora Hill and her husband Jiggs of Lambertville, Michigan; her brother, Walter Skinner of Meridian, Mississippi; her grandchildren, Kristiana Thompson of Austin, Andrew L. Jones of Dallas, Daniel Jones of Austin and Jessica K. Jones of Brooklyn, New York.
Her brothers, Victor and Benjamin Skinner, preceded her in death.
Funeral services will be 1:00 P.M. Friday, March 18, 2005 at Broussard’s Chapel, 2000 McFaddin, Beaumont with burial to follow at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. A gathering of family and friends will be 6:00 until 9:00 P.M. Thursday, March 17, 2005 at the mortuary.
