Coffee with Margaret Moore (11-14-11)

This is a very special edition of Coffee with... There isn't really a host. We aren't at the Highway 61 Coffee House. We're inside the home of a woman who never married because she "couldn't ever find a man that would put up with." Margaret Sue Moore clarified that statement by saying that there weren't many men she could find that could put up with her either. But I digress...

I got the chance to spend a large portion of this past Veterans Day with a true Vicksburg legend.

Margaret Moore is 90 years young and served with the Women's Amry Corps (WAC) from 1943 to 1945. A native of Vicksburg, Ms. Moore returned home after WWII and resumed her life. She worked as a sports reporter for the Vicksburg Evening Post before the war. When she returned home she started her voyage into higher education. She got a job teaching here in Warren County and there she remained for 37 years.

Ms. Moore taught history and says that she imagines that her students loved her because she was "a bit of a pushover!" She also served as the cheerleading coach for several years.

She says that she was always an athletic person and enjoyed tennis and softball before she went off to serve her country in the Philippines and New Zealand. She did get to play a little while she was overseas and she continued those pursuits and picked up the love of bowling when she came home. Ms. Moore was inducted into the Mississippi Women's Bowling Association Hall of Fame, which is located in Natchez, in 1982.

She lives in a quaint home, in a quiet neighborhood which can best be described as the Margaret Sue Moore Museum. It's a home that she has lived in all her life. There are lots of items from her days as a WAC displayed throughout her home, including many items that she acquired while she was in the Philippines. She has the fishing rods that she used at Lake Claiborne mounted above her kitchen door. Various diplomas and certificates have been mounted, framed and hung on the walls next to photos of loved ones and other items of interest. She has a shelf dedicated to California Raisins figurines because they're her favorites.

She loves hats and has many of them on display in her home. Everywhere you turn in her home, there's something that will help to tell the story of who this wonderful woman is.

After we filmed the interview and talked for a while more we traveled to the Old Courthouse Museum to visit some more of Ms. Moore's things. There is a display in the Old Courthouse Museum that is full of items that Ms. Moore donated. Her WAC uniform, embroidered with her nickname, "Mo," resides there along with her boots, canteen supplies and various other items.

Chris and I have spent the last few years celebrating Veterans Day with the fine folks at the Mississippi State Veterans Home in Kosciusko. This year we decided to spend the day a little closer to home. If we had not, I would have never gotten the call from Amanda Harris (one of Ms. Moore's home care providers) and I would have missed out on the opportunity to get to know this beautiful lady. More importantly, I wouldn't have had the chance to introduce her to those of you who are reading this.

I enjoyed every moment of it, I sure hope you do, too!

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Veteran
• Veterans Day
• Women's Army Corps
• Military