Published: April 15, 2006 02:46 am            

Moore was a true pioneer

At the end of Jessie Moore’s term of office at the beginning of the nationwide depression, she was appointed to head the Women’s Division of Emergency Relief in Oklahoma County.

She had organized such a good plan it was extended over the entire state of Oklahoma and in 1933 her plan was adopted by the Federal Government and put into force nationwide.

Mrs. Moore was active in the Democratic Party and headed an Indian organization of the Party in the campaign for the election of Governor Robert S. Kerr in 1942.

In 1940 and 1944 she was elected as a Presidential Elector from Oklahoma.

For her outstanding contribution in both private and public life, Jessie R. Moore was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1937.

Moore had served on the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Historical Society for 37 consecutive years, contributing articles and serving as treasurer.

Jessie Moore was a member of the Chickasaw Council for many years.

Her last great pleasure and honor was when she served as an official representative of the Chickasaw nation in the ceremonies at Memphis, Tennessee dedicating the newly formed Chickasaw Wing of the U.S. Air Force on September 26, 1954.

She made the flight to Memphis in a special plane for the event with other members of the Chickasaw Governor’s party.

Her report on those ceremonies at Memphis with other notes on Chickasaw history was published in The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Summer 1955 edition. An important contribution to the Indian Nation.

Two years later in October of 1956, Mrs. Jessie R. Moore died. She was buried in the Whitebead Cemetery beside the graves of her children who had died many years prior, and her husband E.M. Moore who had died in 1925.

She was survived by her daughter Mrs. Roy Rockwood (nee Imogene Moore) of Wayne; grandson, Lewis Rockwood and granddaughter and great-grand daughter and many relatives from the Love family.

Funeral services were held in the Pauls Valley First Presbyterian Church.

She had requested that her pallbearers be of the Chickasaw Nation and among them were Honorable Floyd Maytubby, Governor of the Chickasaw Nation, and Justice Earl Welch of the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

Mr. Haskell Paul, great-grandson of Pauls Valley pioneer Smith Paul and his Chickasaw wife, Ellen (Ala-Teecha), gave a tribute to Mrs. Moore from memories of fellow citizens and old friends.

Oklahoma historian and author wrote an article in The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Winter 1956-1957 titled “Jessie Elizabeth Randolph Moore of the Chickasaw Nation” and some of my information has come from this tribute.

Wright commented, “Oklahoma has lost one of its best and most revered pioneer women in the passing of Mrs. Jessie R. Moore. Mrs. Moore was known far and wide over the state for her devotion and her contributions to the history of Oklahoma, which are held in high regard.”

Mrs. James Wenonah Paul Gunning, daughter of William and Victoria Paul, great-granddaughter of Ellen and Smith Paul, sent me a copy of The Journal of Chickasaw History that featured “Dynamic Chickasaw Women Past and Present” that included Jessie R. Moore.

Mrs. Gunning mentioned in her letter that her mother and Mrs. Moore were close friends and that Mrs. Moore had talked Mrs. Paul into giving her new baby girl, Kaliteyo the middle name, Mahota, from one of her Love family names.

So, thanks to Jessie Moore, Kaliteyo Mahota Paul received her middle name.

        

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