Margaret Moore

1939 - 2020

Margaret Moore
April 3, 1939 – November 22, 2020
Margaret Moore died peacefully, surrounded by her family, after a long and courageous fight with Parkinson's Disease. Margaret was warm, thoughtful, clever, and grounded. She loved to engage with her family and friends, and to explore the many places and communities of her adopted San Francisco Bay Area. She was able to laugh with her loved ones right up to the end.

Margaret Moore, née Gibbs, was born and raised in Pirbright, England, a bucolic village southwest of London. Despite the struggles and very real dangers of growing up in wartime England, Margaret had a happy childhood—riding her beloved horse, Laddie, to many equestrian victories, rising to be "head girl" at Tormead School, and developing her life-long love of all things country. Driven by her characteristic pluck and sense of adventure, Margaret left England at the age of twenty on a remarkable two-year odyssey around the world, recounted in her memoir: The Great Adventure & Other Stories. From 1959-1961, Margaret worked and adventured her way across the United States—from Vermont to California—saving up enough money to hop a steamer to Hong Kong, Mumbai, Cairo, and eventually back to England. Of all the exotic places Margaret visited, she was most smitten with San Francisco, vowing to return. When she did, in 1962, she took a fateful ski-lift ride at Squaw Valley with Douglas Moore of San Francisco, who soon became her husband.

What followed was a blur of joyful activity as Margaret and Doug raised a family of four children (and numerous dogs, cats, guinea pigs, chickens, donkeys, and bees), staging complex family trips and gatherings, restoring a ramshackle dairy farm in Inverness, CA, and welcoming friends from near and far with a pot of afternoon tea. Margaret managed all the while to engage actively with many local communities, forming friendships wherever she went. Margaret founded the San Francisco Pony Club, was a founding trustee of San Francisco University High School, served on the board of the English Speaking Union, and played a prominent role in everything from the Golden Gate National Park Association to local Jungian and writers' groups. Her country roots informed her life-long concern for animal welfare, conservation and the environment.

One of many recognitions Margaret received for her engaged citizenship came, of all places, from the US Army. On a dog walk, Margaret was horrified to notice an ill-conceived and unsanctioned Army post-office going up on her beloved Crissy Field. It speaks to Margaret's determination and charm, that, as whistle-blower, she not only put the brakes on the US Army's expansionist designs, but eventually won over her all-powerful antagonists. In 1987, the US Army gave Margaret a Blue Chip Award for fostering community relations with the military.

Although Margaret spent the bulk of her life in the United States, her accent and manners never migrated across the Atlantic. She retained her British citizenship, preferring to inject all that is good about English culture from a place of authenticity. Devoted, welcoming, sensible, and civically minded, Margaret loved nothing more than to surround herself with family and friends. She will be deeply missed.

Margaret is survived by Douglas Moore, her husband of 57 years, by her four children Joseph Moore (Lisa) of Sunderland, MA, Louisa Consagra (George) of San Francisco, CA, Sarah Barron (Hugh) of Ross, CA, and Mark Moore (Sandra) of Burlingame, CA, and by her nine grandchildren, Francesca, Sophia, Peter, Lulu, Lane, Joseph, Everett, Evelyn and Patrick. She was pre-deceased by her two younger brothers, Robert and Anthony Gibbs. Her family is deeply grateful for the loving care Margaret received in her later years from Mary Floyd, Natalia Meyerson, and Rebecca Tapia. A celebration of Margaret's life will be held once the Covid-19 pandemic is resolved. Instead of gifts or flowers please consider donating to the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy: www.parksconservancy.org/donate/tributes-memorial-gifts.