Vernon Moore .....Age 94

VISITATION: 6-8PM MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 FOLLOWED BY
MASONIC SERVICES AT 8:00PM

SERVICE: 10:30AM TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015

(ALL AT EDDY-BIRCHARD FUNERAL HOME)

BURIAL: FONTANA CEMETERY, FONTANA, KS WITH MILITARY HONORS

MEMORIAL: WOUNDED WARRIOR FUND / FONTANA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Memorials may be sent in care of:
Eddy-Birchard Funeral Home
P.O. Box 430
Osawatomie, KS 66064

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Vernon Moore age 94, of Fontana, Kansas died Thursday, April 23, 2015 at the Miami County Medical Center in Paola, Kansas.

Vernon was born November 8, 1920 in rural Fontana on the family farm, the eldest of three children born to Frank and Bessie M.T. (Higgins) Moore.

Vernon was a child of the depression, known as the great generation, a generation that knew how to overcome many difficult times and still be a patriot.

He was a life-long resident of not only Miami County but of Fontana. He grew up in the same house he was born in, he attended school in Fontana and graduated from Fontana High School with the class of 1938.

At the age of nineteen, he married Geraldine Irene Young on August 12, 1939 in Paola, Kansas. They made their home in town in Fontana and became the parents of two children, Leland and Sandra. He and his wife remained in the same house for the rest of their lives. Geraldine died July 21, 2009, they had been married just three weeks shy of seventy years.

On September 17, 1943 Vernon was inducted in to the United States Army and served in the Army Air Corps 647th Bombardment Squadron during WWII as an airplane maintenance technician. He served in several battles and campaigns during this time which included, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea Southern Philippines Luzon and other areas of the South Pacific. Vernon was honorably discharge from active duty on December 21, 1945 at Fort Logan, Colorado.

After he returned home from the war he went to work for Missouri Pacific Railroad as a fireman, in 1955 he became a rural mail carrier for the United States Post office in Fontana, and retired after thirty years of service in 1985.

He was a volunteer fireman for Fontana and held the position of Chief for over thirty years. He served on the Osage Township Board, the Fontana School Board and was the former Fontana Cemetery Sexton for many years. Vernon was a member of the Masonic Equity Lodge #131 AF & Am of Fontana, the American Legion- Mike McDill Lodge of Fontana, an active member of the Eastern Star of LaCygne, Kansas and a member of the United Methodist Church of Fontana.

Vernon was a man who loved sports, especially baseball. The family had their own baseball diamond in the pasture and would have family ball games on Sunday afternoons. He an avid KC Royals fan and loved watching them on television. He loved fishing, camping and travel, he and Geraldine went on many trips to Oklahoma and to Minnesota with their family as well as extended family.

Vernon was active all his life, even in his later years living on his own, driving his own car and even tending his garden and mowing his own yard at the age of ninety-four. Vernon was a man who truly did live the American Dream.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Geraldine and his brother David Moore.

Vernon is survived by his children Leland Moore of Humboldt and Sandra (Bruce) Coffman of Silver Lake, KS, his sister Donna Mae Blunt of Plymouth, MN, sister in law Jean Young of Osawatomie, KS, four grandchildren: Heather Stevenson, Bruce Chae Coffman, Geraldine Miller, Soraiya Coffman and six great grandchildren along with numerous nieces, nephews and friends. Vernon will be greatly missed by his family and the community of Fontana.