Keith Moore

1935 - 2017

Keith Moore

Ojai, CA

Keith Moore, whose love and healing care touched the lives of many, passed on September 17, 2017.

He was born July 8, 1935 in Davenport, Iowa. Keith learned early about meeting people as he moved from town to town around the greater Midwest as his father was reassigned to new locations working for a railroad, with Keith often finding himself at a new school each year. Keith returned to Davenport for his high school years where he met the love of his life. He later wrote of that time "God granted me his greatest blessing, the love of Muriel Jeannine Ekstrom. . . I remain forever grateful". A thespian and athlete, Keith was good in front of an audience and cut a fine figure with his swan dive from high above the big community pool where he was a lifeguard and where Muriel also worked, teaching swimming.

By the time Keith graduated from high school his father "Jack" (Finis Keithley Moore) had completed a career change, earning his Doctor of Chiropractic in Davenport and had begun his practice in New South Wales, Australia, half a world away. Keith, his mother Undine and younger brother Howard followed. Traveling on a freighter for the long trip across the Pacific, Undine once discovered Keith and Howard, both gymnasts, doing their high bar routines on a bar connected to the ship's smokestack. In Australia, Keith worked at a radio station as an announcer; he also joined an entertainment troupe in which he was billed as an "American Singer, Impersonator and Comedian" performing in different cities.

Two years later Keith returned to Davenport. Having witnessed profound examples of the difference that Chiropractic had made in individuals' lives, he enrolled at Palmer College of Chiropractic, following in his father's footsteps. After Muriel graduated from the dental hygiene program at the University of Iowa, he and Muriel were married in Davenport one week prior to Keith's 21st birthday on July 1, 1956.

Following his graduation from Palmer as Class President, Keith served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. After returning to Iowa from Texas, he and Muriel faced a crossroads on where to establish Keith's practice. They chose to follow Muriel's parents Ed and Marie Ekstrom from Davenport to Santa Barbara, California in 1959, as they had just purchased a motel there to operate. Keith dove into establishing himself in the community. In conjunction with President Kennedy's Council on Youth Fitness, he spoke on that subject throughout Southern California and was named by the Jaycees as the "Most Outstanding Speaker of 1961" statewide. Keith remained an accomplished public speaker and educator throughout his career.

Also in 1961, his son Marcus was born. The following year the family relocated to Ventura County, California where he and Muriel have resided for more than 50 years. Keith launched a new chiropractic practice in Oxnard where he was an active member of the business and professional community until 1979. His son Chuck was born in 1964 and for the next decade Keith and his family were active in Unity Christ Church which led to close friendships for the remainder of Keith's life. In 1968, Keith and Muriel met John-Roger, founder of the Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness which began a new and profound level of spiritual growth in their lives. Keith remained active in the Church for the remainder of his life.

In 1976 Keith helped launch the Baraka Holistic Center in Los Angeles, California where he worked until 1984 and was the Center's executive director. The Center brought together a unique variety of health practitioners under one roof including both chiropractic and medical doctors. The family relocated to Pacific Palisades, California in 1979 in order for Keith and Muriel to devote their full-time energy to Baraka. Then in 1984, Keith and Muriel returned to Ventura County, residing in Ojai where Keith established a new practice and wrote regular educational newsletters to his patients as "The Country Chiropractor". His Ojai practice centered on chiropractic well into his 60s, and then branched further into the field of coaching and educating other health practitioners.

Key to that expansion was his strong interest in Neuro Emotional Technique (NET) and applying it in his practice. At age 77, he was named NET's 2012 Doctor of the Year and recognized "as a strong force in our family of NET" since 1996, contributing to numerous seminars, the NET certification process and running the administration of the Home Run Practice business. Keith found the recognition particularly meaningful because NET members are doctors of all types across a broad healthcare spectrum. Keith also made significant volunteer and advisory contributions to the ONE Research Foundation that focuses on NET.

His many professional achievements and outreach did not come at the expense of being a generous and loving husband, father and grandfather. His sons fondly remember playing catch with their Dad as kids and his admonition to always use "two hands" catching the baseball. They remember their Dad being there for them, whether for a neighborhood pick-up game of basketball, or for a hike in the Ventura foothills. They also remember their Dad sticking up for them and advocating for them when others had their doubts.

He loved the water. According to Muriel, "there wasn't a body of water that he wouldn't jump into, be it an ocean, lake, river, stream or even the duck pond on a golf course." His sons remember how Dad could walk upside-down in a hand-stand on the beach. Keith kept himself in excellent health and enjoyed riding his bicycle at Lake Casitas and taking walks on the beach in Carpinteria even into the last month of his life.

As long-time residents of Ojai as adults, his sons Chuck and Marcus were close at hand with him, yet Keith was not obtrusive; he was there when needed. Grandchildren Keon and Kate Moore grew up just six doors down from Keith and Muriel in the same Ojai neighborhood with their parents Marcus and Elizabeth Moore. Keith was able to spend countless hours with his grandkids.

Although intensely private, Keith's signature quality was the love he radiated. He had a terrific sense of humor, and took particular joy in storytelling. He had a way with words, spoken and written, and could recite Longfellow and Poe, learned from his father.

Diagnosed with cancer six months before the end of his life, Keith kept on going much as before, and continued to enjoy the richness of his life and time with family. In the last two weeks of his life he demonstrated tremendous courage, grace and even humor in his suffering. He died at home surrounded by Muriel, Chuck and Marcus. The day after he died it was, just as Keith began each of his Country Chiropractor newsletters, "another beautiful sunny day in the Ojai Valley".

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Memorial service not yet scheduled. The family requests you share your memories with them in lieu of flowers or contributions--there is a Remembering Keith Moore group on Facebook.