Fern Estes Moore

A graveside service will be held at Garden of Memories Cemetery in Elkhart, Texas, on Saturday, September 10, 2022, at 2:30pm. Per Fern’s wishes, Reverend Paul Clines will lead the service. Prior to the graveside service, a visitation will take place at the Herrington Land of Memory Funeral Home in Palestine, Texas, from 12:00pm to 2:00pm.

Friends and family may gather for a Celebration of Life Service on Friday, September 16, 2022, at 2:00pm, in Houston, Texas, at Fern’s home church, First Methodist Houston, West Campus, with a reception following.

Fern was born in Elkhart, Texas, to Johnny Parks Estes and Luna Elda (Curry) Estes on May 8, 1936, just in time for Mother’s Day. She attended Elkhart High School and Henderson County Junior College where she was a majorette and drum major. She continued her education at Sam Houston State University and the University of Houston, in which she would later cross paths with her future husband, Alton Downs Moore. If you asked him about what made them an official couple, he would have told you they were friends arranged by other friends to go to a dance together. The way she remembered it was a bit differently in that she said her date was not with him but with the other friend. He replied, “But Fern, I thought you were my girl?” and that made it official. This was a perfect example of how she looked at life and how she always had a vivid story to tell, whether it might not have been exactly what happened. It is how she remembered it and was sticking to it. Alton and Fern were married on December 3, 1961, at the First Methodist Church in Elkhart, Texas. Shortly after, they moved to Houston and eventually built what would become their forever home in the Sharpstown area.

Fern and Alton were opposites, but it is true when they say opposites attract. He worked and provided for the family, while she took care of her sons and made sure they were involved in their school