Gloria Gail Moore of Bellingham, Washington, went home to be with the Lord on July 28, 2022.  She was born in Seattle, Washington on February 17, 1936 to Elnora and James Bassett.

Until college, she lived in Tacoma.  At Horace Mann Elementary, she was the student chosen to go each week to Stewart Junior High to learn the P.E. (Physical Education) games which she then taught the children at her school.  At Lincoln High School (Class of '54), she played the clarinet and excelled in sports, including the Rifle Team.  "We carried our guns through the halls on our way to a competition," she said, "you couldn't do that now.   Students were more respectful of others, then."

An avid swimmer, she was a summer life guard at local lakes in the mid-1950's.  One Tacoma boy lived to go swimming again because she "could tell by the look on his face that he was not going to make it [to the dock]" and ran out and extended a long pole which he grabbed and she pulled him in and helped him out of the water.

At WSU (Washington State University), she excelled in the new water ballet program and loved playing the clarinet in the Cougar Marching Band – "We didn't mind going over to Pullman [from west of the mountains] early [in late summer] to practice; it was fun."  She graduated in 1958 with a B.A. in Education (High School P.E.).   When school districts came to WSU to interview for new teachers, by the end of the day, Gloria had interviewed all she cared to when her friend, Dolores Rohlman, hurried up to her and said, "Mount Vernon High School needs a girls' P.E. teacher who can teach swimming ."  One of the few who could do that, Gloria, who had never even considered working in Mount Vernon, went back to interview with Mr. Guerney and Mr. Phipps.  Not surprisingly, they hired the friendly, bright, graduate on the spot.  "They needed someone who could teach swimming, that's why I got that job," she always said, characteristically modest to a fault.  God planned that job for her; He had been preparing her since grade school to teach P.E..

God watched over her, too.  One day in particular, c. 1960, she drove an old, manual transmission, school bus full of laughing high school girls down the steep hill from MVHS to go teach them bowling at Riverside Lanes.  On the return trip, at the stop light at 4 ^th Street and Fir, the bus brakes failed, the pedal going straight to the floor.  She downshifted and safely pulled over, then went to telephone the athletic director.  "What if the brakes had failed on our way down that hill … just an hour ago?" one of the girls might have asked shakily.  Gloria would have answered as Betsie ten Boom answered her sister Corrie one night in Holland during WWII, "'There are no "ifs" in God's world, [dear], no places safer than other places… .'"

In 1961, another WSU P.E. major friend, Carmen Dibbles, urged her to come teach with her in Santa Cruz, California.  Gloria enjoyed the mild climate – outdoor tennis in November!  She chuckled when she recalled their cancelling football games because of a light rain shower.

She enjoyed Santa Cruz a lot, but, marrying Dick Moore of Mount Vernon, Washington was more important to her, so she moved back north (where she also preferred the climate, in spite of the rain).   Dick's little sister, Meredith, Gloria's student, had played matchmaker one summer, inviting her out to their farm.  They also got to know each other as members of opposing teams in the Mount Vernon church bowling league.  "I was a better bowler," she smiled.  They became better acquainted carpooling up to WWU for summer school and were married in 1962 at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Mount Vernon.

She had three children, daughter Janice and sons Bill and Jim. When asked if she minded giving up her teaching career to care for her children, she firmly responded, "Not at all.  I had fun with you kids."    Having not accepted Christ as her Savior until her twenties and wishing she had been presented with the gospel as a child, she wanted very much to tell children about Jesus and did so via CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship), by co-leading the church youth group, making fun times for teenagers (like a ferry ride to Lopez Island) happen in the name of Jesus, and by hosting 5-Day Clubs in her home, driving around the countryside to pick the children up and, then, return them home.

She was an enthusiastic student of the Bible.  Her daughter recalls that anytime she would ask, "Mom, where does it say ___," Mom, a walking concordance, could nearly always tell her where in the Bible it was located.

Gloria had many favorite encouraging quotes.  Sharing some of them, tells you about her and honors her better than paragraphs of prose:

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye upon you."  Psalm 32:8.

"For I am convinced that [nothing] … shall separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 8:37-39

"God has no problems, only plans."  (Corrie ten Boom)

"JSBNICE" (Gloria's license plate)

Finally, a favorite hymn:

"When trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more,

When the morning breaks eternal, bright and fair;

When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,

When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. ***

Let us labor for the master from the dawn to setting sun,

Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care;

Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done,

When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there."

("When the Roll Is Called up Yonder," by James M. Black)

She was preceded in death by:  her husband of 54 years, Richard A. Moore, and her brother, Donald Bassett.

She is survived by:  her daughter, Janice Moore, and her sons, Bill (Nicole) Moore and Jim Moore.

At this time, no services will be held.