Laura Moore was born April 20, 1926 in Pactolus, North Carolina, a descendant of African Americans that settled in the Mid-Atlantic coast in early 1800’s as farmers, seasonal workers, bricklayers, and small business owners. Her parents were Rosa Lee Carney and Edward Henry Ward. Edward Henry Ward was born October 19, 1894 and died October 24, 1970, and his parents were Stephen Ward and Dora Daniel. He served in the military during WWI. He was also a farmer, and small dry goods store owner. Rosa Lee Carney was born April 18, 1902 and passed April 1961. Her parents were Ernest Carney and Maggie Carney Hopkins. Rosa Carney was a stay at home mother. The extended family tree included the Carneys, Wards, Perkins, Moore, Littles, Jernigan, Keyes, Wilsons, Daniels, and Rosses, Laura Moore had three siblings, Ruth, Virginia, and Stephen Ward. Ruth married George Jernigan and parented two children, JoAnne, and Garry. Virginia married Roy Ross parented seven children, Reginald, Roy, Gloria, Alvin, Bonnie, Ann, and Annette. Stephen married Lillie Perkins and parented thirteen children, Bobby, Desiree, Levone, Debbie, Ann, June, Maurice, Phillip, Edward, Darnay, Rosa, Joseph, and Joyce. Laura was actively involved in the lives of her siblings and their children over the years. And she was instrumental in helping Virginia Ross relocating her family from the South to New York City in 1960s. Laura Moore raised two children, Michael, and Terri. Both had successful professional careers. Michael was drafted by the NBA New York Knicks, played professional basketball in Europe, was selected first team All Canadian, and acquired professional credentials (MBA, CPA, CIA, CISA, CGMA, and CFE) that allowed him to work for the largest Accounting Firms in the USA (KPMG and EY), and several Fortune 200 Corporations (e.g. Honeywell, Johnson and Johnson, Mitsubishi Chemical, Tyco International, Syngenta AG, etc.) as a global audit manager. Terri graduated from Hunter College, and satisfied academic and experience requirements to become a registered nurse practicing in New York. Laura graduated from Greenville, NC Eppes Industrial High School and departed Greenville, NC to attend Virginia State College, Petersburg, Virginia, in 1943 and 1944. After two years she accepted a
secretarial position with the Navy, specifically the department of Chief of Naval Operations for four years. She moved to NYC in 1949 where she met and married my father, William Moore. She worked in several administrative assistant and secretarial positions for Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Institute of International Education, and the City University of New York (Juvenile Delinquency Evaluation Project, Hunter College, and Medgar Evers), in addition to the Port Authority of NY/NJ Legal department. Laura returned to College to complete her undergraduate education, graduating from Brooklyn College, CUNY, in 1982 with a B.A. degree (business administration and psychology). My mother enjoyed physical fitness, family reunions, social events, church activities, providing support to her many nieces and nephews, and traveling internationally, particularly to the Caribbean and Asia.
A Graveside Service will be Friday, May 29th, 11:00 a.m., in Mountain View Cemetery in Blacksburg with Rev. Dr. Timothy L. Hunter officiating.