Maron Moore

Maron Lorimer Moore was born May 20, 1916, to Samuel E Lorimer and Nell G. Edgar Lorimer near Olathe, Kansas. She was educated in the Olathe schools and graduated valedictorian of her high school class. She earned a B.A. degree from Park College and a M.S. degree from Kansas State University. She pursued further studies at Kansas University, Columbia University and Michigan State University. She taught in Montezuma and Leavenworth, Kansas prior to 1944 when she became a teacher of Family and Consumer Science in Northwest Junior High School and Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas. In 1964 she served as Supervisor of all Consumer and Science Departments of that system. In 1947 the Home Economics Association named her Teacher of the Year.
She traveled widely in Europe, across Asia, in Australia and New Zealand, and many parts of the United States.
In 1979 she married Edgar Moore, Kansas State representative from the 26th District of Olathe. She became active in many civic and social organizations. While her husband was in the legislature she served as President of the Legislative Wives. She also served on the boards of the Salvation Army Auxiliary, The Good Samaritan Retirement Center, The Shawnee Mission Indian Historical Society, The Olathe Historical Society, and the Foundation Board of the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm. She also was a member and often an officer in the local American Association of University Women, Delta Kappa Gamma, Chapter HL of PEO Sisterhood, Ladies Reading Circle, and Bonita Hummers Extension Club.
She generously had commissioned construction and donated to the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm two stagecoaches, a prairie schooner, and some display furnishings for the farmhouse. She was a long time advocate for the preservation and expansion of the facilities at the Mahaffie site, feeling that it was a significant part of Olathe history. With that motivation she donated for the monument for the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop at the corner of the site at Ridgeview and Old Kansas City Road, depicting a stagecoach in motion with a team of horses and passengers in bronze relief on stone. In 2013 and 2014 she exclusively commissioned, funded and influenced the design of the large new barn for the Mahaffie site to accommodate the agricultural functions and storage of the coaches, wagon and historic farm implements as well as the animals.
She also funded a series of dramatized documentary films of significant Olathe history. In memory of her late husband, Edgar Moore, she funded the clock tower and chimes for the Johnson County Administration Building in Olathe. Among other philanthropical gifts were funds for capital improvements to the 4-H Club at Rock Springs, Kansas, and for CrossLines in Kansas City, Kansas.
Maron established scholarships at the Johnson County Community College for nursing students, and made further donations that enabled the college to erect a specialized academy building with related equipment for culinary and hospitality training.
Maron's generosity continues with inclusion of all of her assets in trust for charitable disposition.
Maron was a long time member of the former Olathe Presbyterian Church. She was predeceased by her parents, husband and her only sibling, Margaret Lorimer Parsons of East Lansing, Michigan. She is survived by cousins in Fort Worth, Texas and Seattle, Washington, and by genetically distant but attendant local cousins, Wilson (Ed) and Ailie Speer of Overland Park.

To leave a special message please click the "share memories" tab above.