OFFICIALS REMEMBER MOORE AS DEDICATED

CHAFFEE -- Fellow city officials Wednesday remembered long-time Chaffee councilman and businessman Virgil Keith Moore as a special person, who worked hard to pay back the city that gave him his livelihood.

The 62-year-old Moore and his wife, Wanda, 59, died Tuesday afternoon when a pickup truck collided head-on with Moore's vehicle on Highway 77 at Oran. Both died instantly.

Moore served as a councilman in the city's fourth ward for 19 years, and had one year remaining on his present term. He owned and operated Moore's Auto Sales and Moore's Standard Service Station here.

In the eyes of Chaffee Mayor Ron Moyers, Moore was a friend who seemed more like family because of his dedication to the Chaffee City Council.

"His whole concept was to give back to the city what the city had given him," said Moyers. "They had provided him with a livelihood here and he felt like he owed the city of Chaffee. That was his whole concept for serving on the boards that he served on."

But Moyers said the city really owed Moore for the time he put in as a city official.

"A lot of times that should have been spent with his family, he was dedicated enough that he spent them in meetings," the mayor noted.

Moyers said he was upset by Moore's death, "to say the least. It's just something that's hard to deal with."

Moore's colleague in Ward 4, Councilman Tom Cunningham, said the news of Moore's death had come as a "terrible, terrible" shock.

"A lot of people's going to miss Keith. He had a good business and did good work," said Cunningham.

For both Cunningham, 39, and Moyers, 42, Moore was not only a fellow city official, but also a former employer.

Said Cunningham: "Keith's pretty special to me. Keith actually gave me my first job."

Cunningham said he had worked as a part-time attendant at Moore's service station for five or six years, starting back in the late 1960s when he was high school student. He also held the job while attending college, he said.

Moyers said he last worked for Moore 18 years ago. The status of being a fellow employee, he said, made the news of Moore's death doubly hard to accept.

"We stayed friends for a number of years, and I thought as much of his wife as I did him," he said.

News of Moore's death came as a big shock for Chaffee City Administrator Reece Brown, who considered Moore one of his best friends.

"He's been working on my cars ever since I've lived here," Brown said Wednesday evening.

The city administrator said he first met Moore after he came to Chaffee about 22 years ago. Brown said he met Moore through his job as superintendent of the Scott County R-2 School District, a position he held for several years in the late 60s and the 1970s.

Chaffee City Hall will be closed until noon Friday to allow city employees to attend the couple's funeral if they wish, Moyers said. The funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Chaffee.

The northbound pick-up truck hit that hit Moore's southbound vehicle, apparently tried to pass another vehicle that was stopped in the northbound lane, the Missouri Highway Patrol reported. The truck's driver, Stephen Hess, 23, of Chaffee, suffered moderate injuries and was taken to Southeast Missouri Hospital.

The Moore's were going to Sikeston for a meeting.