Vivian Mary Margaret Kirsch Moon

1924 - 2016

Vivian Mary Margaret Kirsch Moon
May 23, 1924 - April 6, 2016
Portland, Oregon
Vivian Mary Margaret Kirsch Moon passed away peacefully at home in Portland, Oregon on the morning of the 6th of April at the age of 91. Vivian lived most of her adult life in Carmel, California, where she moved with her children in 1959. As an amateur artist, she had fallen in love with Carmel while on a camping trip with a friend. She enjoyed the many years she lived and worked in the area. Vivian was born in Spangler, Pennsylvania. While growing up in Spangler, Vivian considered herself a grand adventurer and explored by bicycle the surrounding countryside with her best friends Natalie O'Donnell, Florence Derringer and Walburga Williams. She played the clarinet in the Spangler High School band and liked to show off her tap dancing skills. She graduated at the top of her class, in the middle of World War II, at the age of 17, with a full scholarship to Mount Aloysius College. Her dreams for the future included dancing on a table top in Paris, France and wearing red cowboy boots out West in California.
After moving to Philadelphia during WWII, Vivian met her future husband John L. Moon II (1923-1995). They had five children together. In 1951 they moved out West to California where they lived in Malibu, Palm Springs, and Apple Valley before Vivian moved to Carmel and began a new life raising her children. Vivian worked as an accountant and as an administrative assistant. She was an original owner of the McFly group of restaurants. Her hobbies included reading, writing, drawing, painting, and travel. She had a keen interest in architecture and loved to travel in the United States and overseas to appreciate different cultures and to learn about their architecture. She studied at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish literature. She spent as much time as she could every year traveling and visiting friends in her beloved Mexico.
Vivian was predeceased by her brother Joseph Kirsch and her sister Imogene Fowler. She is survived by her brother John (Jack) Kirsch of Hastings, Pa.; her sister Karen Conrad and husband Ronald (Ron) Conrad of Renfrew, Pa; her son John L. Moon III and wife Suzanne Gilbert Moon, Big Sur; four daughters Barbara Moon Batista and husband Fernando Batista, Monterey; Susan Moon, Portland, Oregon; Gretchen Peverini, Salinas; Sally Moon and husband Ernie Moranda, Carmel; seven grandchildren (some called her Grand mama); eight great grandchildren; and another great granddaughter on the way.
There will be private services for the family at the Mission Mortuary and the San Carlos Cemetery. Memorial donations can be sent in Vivian's name to HouseCall Providers Hospice, 5100 SW Macadam Avenue, Suite 220, Portland, OR, 97239. The family is forever grateful to the highly professional and loving team from HouseCall Providers that provided routine, urgent, and end of life care to Vivian in her home.


View the online memorial for Vivian Mary Margaret Kirsch Moon