100th Birthday Milestone

Lifelong Vancouver resident Delona Moore quietly celebrated her 100th birthday Feb. 18 with friends and family, including her two daughters, five granddaughters, and eight great-grandchildren.

Moore was born in Rainier, Ore., but her family moved to Vancouver when she was 9 or 10 years old. She attended the former Arnada Elementary School, Shumway Junior High and Vancouver High School. She lived most of her school years in the Hough neighborhood.

From the age of 9 she played piano, taking a bus to Portland for lessons, even as a small child. Eventually piano became her primary occupation and a vital part of her life. She began teaching students shortly after graduating high school and has taught multiple generations of Clark County students to play.

Moore also held a position as an usherette at the Castle Theater, which was located where the J.C. Penney building was later built at the southeast corner of Main Street and Evergreen Boulevard. She recalls being invited along with other usherettes to dine with Gen. George C. Marshall, a regular theater attendee, at his home and how kind he was to everyone, “regardless of their station in life.”

She met her husband, Jack Moore, while working as an usherette, and together for many years they owned and operated Moore’s Restaurant on Evergreen Boulevard just south of the courthouse. They raised two daughters and Moore continued to teach piano. Jack Moore died in 2006; they had been married 67 years.

Moore was a member of the Washington State Music Teachers Association and Soroptimist International. An aficionado of classical music, she appreciated attending the Vancouver Symphony and concerts with friends. Her friend Sandy Golze said, “The Vancouver library was often on her places to go to get new books to read, and she maintained her driver’s license into her mid-90s. Only in the last couple of years has she not been able to live on her own.”

Mrs. Moore, when asked about her long life, said she feels “remaining positive is important, and not letting those things that one has no control over dominate my thoughts.”