James (Jim) Ogle Moore

 My Life as a Baseball Game

                                                             by Jim Moore

I equate my life to running the bases in baseball.   To get to 1st base it took 20 years,   starting in a farm house in Hopkins County Kentucky.   I was the oldest of 7. Six boys and one girl. 

Dad was a coal miner and raised what he could on our 25 acres. We had barely what we needed but were happy kids till 2 of our baby brothers died of whooping cough and soon thereafter Dad got black lung and we moved to Colorado for his health but his black lung developed into TB and he passed when I was 9 years old. Mom became a positive TB patient as well and was removed from our home leaving my grandmother to raise the 5 of us.  We struggled but finally I managed to get through high school and finally got to 1st base.

They started drafting for military service so I joined the Navy. Basketball had become my extra curricular passion so at 6’6” I was immediately spotted by the Navy coach in Norman Oklahoma where I was going to Aircraft Machinist mate school.  So I spent basically 4 years playing ball!! I was honorably discharged in 1956 with my sights set on college.  Upon enrollment at Colorado University while standing in line for an algebra class the basketball coach Sox Walseth spotted me and asked if I played any ball. I had grown 2 more inches in the navy so 6’8”. I said “some”!  He told the young man with him to stand in line and get my algebra class for me and he sent me to the gym to play a little one on one with Billy Lewis, a big name that year.  The coach intervened when I got a little rough with him. I said “in the Navy it’s not a foul till you draw blood”! After one year at Colorado University I transferred to Regis College, a small male college with a great basketball team!! Again I had a scholarship and played ball. My buddy encouraged me to come to Adams State College in Alamosa Colorado where I again played ball, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.

1962-halfway to second bass graduation and a coaching job in California. A great opportunity which lasted till an auto accident put me out of coaching and teaching.  You might say I slid into second base and was still able to head for third.

During this time I met Brother and Sister Lieb, a couple who invited us to the Gold and Green Ball. I immediately had the missionaries over and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Before Joining I was going to the Baptist church and played ball on their team. They were city church champs beating the LDS team. But we turned it around the next year and the LDS team were city champs!!

Shortly after the accident we moved to Kentucky and I I eventually got a teaching credential in Tennessee but never taught there as I found I could do better driving a truck which I did until 1992 when I stole third base in Mansfield Ohio.  I had a heart attack and triple bypass thus taking away another occupation which I enjoyed. My testimony really grew during the time I spent recuperating. Brother and Sister Strong were serving their mission in Paris Tennessee where I was living. They got word that I was heading into surgery on a Sunday and somehow in Columbus Ohio, just minutes before I went under the knife 2 elders from Columbus showed up and gave me a blessing. I had no hope prior to the blessing of ever coming out of the OR as they were giving me 37 drips of nitro per minute and had rushed me in on Sunday because I was not going to make it to Monday when I was scheduled for surgery. 

After recuperating I headed home after dodging the bullet again. The next 20 years I spent doing something else I loved since 1947 when I set pins in the bowling alley.  I bought and operated the pro shop in the local bowling alley. I had finished my 20 years there and thought I would just relax and kick back for the rest of this life. Instead I discovered I was up to bat again. This time I hit a home run when I met and fell in love with my beautiful bride Holly B Moore.

James Ogle “Jim” Moore was born 23 Apr 1932 in Nortonville, Hopkins, Kentucky to Bryant T and Flora Justine Bryant Moore.  As the oldest child he was big brother to Richard “Dick”, John, Dorothy, Muriel, Henry and Verlus. He left this life 26th September 2021 with his loving wife at his side.

He is survived by his sweetheart, Holly Bateman Moore;  Daughter Deborah Weiner, son  James Glen Moore, Daughter April Middleton and son Kevin Moore; 11 grandchildren and several great grandchildren. Stepchildren, Corbin Bateman, Tifany Bateman, Alissa Papi, Kelvin Bateman and Jordan Bateman. 16 Step grandchildren and 5 step great grandchildren. He also leaves behind many bowling friends.

He was preceeded by his parents, his grandmother Lula Bryant who raised him and his siblings, four brothers and his son Kyle.

He will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him