Claire Moore

1918 - 2020

Claire Moore died on April 30, 2020 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was born in Quincy, Massachusetts on March 27, 1918. As an infant she was lucky to escape the terrible Spanish flu pandemic. She survived polio, which she contracted when she was 3 months old. But at 102 Claire was overcome by Covid-19.

In the 1920's and '30s the family moved many times as her father, Frank Paddleford, pieced together a living from farming, lumbering, construction, and maintenance work. Claire enjoyed school and vacation visits with her beloved aunt Harriet, in Revere, Massachusetts, during which they took day trips to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Claire graduated from Keene State Teachers college and taught for a year in Franconia. Her teaching career was cut short by rapidly worsening hereditary deafness. Claire became a skilled lip reader, and was better than Google at guessing words.

In 1940 she married Richard Moore of Peterborough. They lived at the Moore Farm on Old Jaffrey Road with their children Carol and MacDonald. In 1945 they moved to Columbia, Missouri. They lived in their house cellar and rented the upstairs to foreign graduate students. Claire worked in restaurants, Richard as a carpenter. After four years they bought a war surplus jeep for $50 and relocated to El Paso, Texas. They lived in a trailer court and then moved out onto the desert. "I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven," Claire would later sigh. News of her father-in-law's cancer pulled them back to Peterborough. They built a house on Old Town Farm Road, but felt obliged to move back to the farm. Claire worked at New Hampshire Ball Bearings until the children were in college. She earned her Masters degree in vocational counseling from BU, and then worked at the Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center. After retiring, she stayed with Carol's family, most recently in Pennsylvania. When Carol died, Mac brought Claire out to Michigan.

Claire's love of travel took her to Brazil, Peru, Egypt, Ireland, and Greece. And she never tired of the poetry and drama of her backyard sky. Claire was resilient, perceptive, and generous. She put folks at ease and made everyone feel appreciated.

Claire is survived by her sister Virginia Emmes; her son Mac; grandchildren Mordecai Moore, Nathaniel Locke, Ben Locke, and Mikhael Moore; and great-grandchildren Ethan, Elijah, Brendan, Zoe, Anya, Rose, and Oren.