J. C. Moore

MOORE, EASLEY, GORMAN, SMITH

Posted By: Mary Welty Hart (email)
Date: 2/14/2006 at 11:41:24

J. C. MOORE, Winterset

Winterset Madisonian
January 4, 1978

J. C. Moore of Winterset, retired publisher of the Winterset Madisonian and a former state legislator and state superintendent of printing, died Monday, Jan. 2, 1978, at Madison County Memorial Hospital here. He had been a patient at the hospital for eight days.

Mr. Moore was 80 years of age at his death. He was a native of Wayne county, Iowa, where he was born on a farm near Promise City, May 22, 1897, a son of John Coe and Katherine Easley Moore. He graduated from Corydon High school, and attended Iowa State University in Ames. When World War I broke out, he left school and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on April 12, 1917, serving 23 months overseas in France.

Following the war he returned to farming in Wayne county, from where he was elected to the house of representatives of the Iowa state legislature, serving in the 46th and 47th Iowa general assemblies.

He was married Sept. 24, 1937, at Oklahoma City, Okla., to Marion S. Gorman. They purchased a half interest in the Madisonian from Ed M. Smith, serving as co-publishers with Mr. Smith until his death in 1953. Mr. and Mrs. Moore continued to publish the Madisonian until 1964, when they leased it to their son, John Gorman.

Mr. Moore played an active role in the affairs of his community and his state over a long period of years. He helped reorganize and served as president of the Winterseet Chamber of Commerce in the late 1930s and 1940s. When the Winterset board of utilities trustees was formed, he served as first chairman of that board.

His work in directing the Madisonian led to his being named Iowa Master Editor Publisher in 1959, and he also served as president of the American Newspaper Representatives in 1963 and 1964.

He was a long-time active worker in the Republican party, and was named a delegate to the 1968 Republican National convention.

After leaving the Madisonian in 1964, Mr. Moore was appointed by Gov. Robert Ray as state superintendent of printing in 1966, serving until 1970.

Mr. Moore was a past president and former director of the Iowa Press Association. He was a member of the local posts of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, and of the Masonic Lodge. He was a long-time member of the Winterset Rotary club, and a member of the First United Presbyterian Church of Winterset, where he served as elder and deacon.

Mr. Moore is survived by his wife, Marion S. Moore; his son, John Gorman; and four grandchildren, Patricia Gorman of Jefferson, Iowa and Ted, Jane and Carol Gorman of Winterset.