Obituary of James Moore

James N. Moore, 89, of South Range, WI passed away on January 4, 2021.  He was born on July 15, 1931 to parents, Claude J. and Ruth E. (Neville) Moore.  His family lived in the East End of Superior and included a sister, Claudette and younger brother, Thomas.

His father was a Teamster and equipment operator working on the coal docks and for the City of Superior.  James learned to ride and care for the horses at a riding stable and horse barn owned by his father and uncle’s in East End for many years.

He graduated from East High School in 1949 and horsepower in his late teens came in the form of motorcycles and cars.

James served his country as a Tank Driver/Tank Commander in Germany during the Korean War era.  He very rarely wore shorts except for swimming as he had scars on his legs from burns he received while unloading ammunition from his burning tank.

Returning stateside he continued riding and working on his motorcycles and cars , playing baseball, pitching horseshoes, catching up with friends, drinking beer, bowling, hunting, fishing, and working construction.  Occasionally, he could be seen riding down East 5^th Street while standing on the seat of his motorcycle.  (It probably was the beer).

He was out bowling with friends when he met his future wife, Barbara A. Novack, a 2^nd Runner-Up in the Miss Superior Pageant.  They were married for 63 years when she passed away on the 13^th of April 2018.  They had six boys (Whoop-De-Do, Whoop-De-Do), but their granddaughters, Jolene Rochelle, and Cassandra were their pride and joy.

While working construction, he helped in the building of the refinery as it was dismantled in Montana and brought to Superior.  James was among one of the first in a group of employees to be hired by the new Lake Superior Refinery.  He was a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers and retired as shift foreman from Murphy Oil after 35 years.

While working for Murphy Oil, he was featured in the company magazine, “Murphy News”.  “Superior Employee Rescues Duck Hunter” was the title.  While out on a day of swimming and fishing with his family they arrived at a lake and heard the faint cries of “Help” from somewhere out on the water.  Dad located a rowboat and set out across the lake where he found a duck hunter holding onto his overturned boat.  The old duck hunter would not unhook his water filled wader’s so he could be pulled into the boat, so he held onto the rear of the rowboat as dad took him back to shore and got help for him at the cabin.

Jim and Barb liked to attend auctions.  They collected antiques, Americana, automobilia, military items, construction equipment, tools, anything and everything. 

Retirement sometimes brought cooking maple syrup in the spring and always harvesting apple’s in the fall for mom’s apple pies, applesauce and award winning winebread.

A lifelong hunter, Dad always enjoyed deer camp down in Gordon and being a Viking fan.  It was always a treat to talk with or see Bud Grant during deer season.  He had his own 6 acre golf course and played almost every night until rheumatoid arthritis took that away from him. 

Having four ponds on his property, he took bets on when the ducks would return in the spring.  He like feeding them, watching the ducklings grow and learn to fly.

Dad always enjoyed the solitude of walking the trails on his property, tagging the fence line, marking firewood, feeding the deer, counting the fawns, finding bear, wolf, fox and even moose tracks in the sand. 

He was not a person that said, Good-Bye very much, but his kids and grandkids grew up hearing him say this:  “See You Later, Alligator”.

Thank you to everyone at St. Luke’s for the years of care.  Thank you to the Cremation Society of MN-Duluth for your help.