Mary Ann (Fabish) Moore

Mary Ann was born on Feb. 6, 1936, in Chicago. She was the eldest of eight children born to Tom and Mary Clare Fabish. During Mary Ann’s life, in every phase from her childhood through the passages of her adulthood, caring for family and sustaining all family relationships were the utmost priorities.

After graduating high school in 1953 from the Loretto Academy of the Immaculate Conception in Woodlawn-Chicago, Mary Ann attended the prestigious Saint Bernard’s School of Nursing in Chicago.

She married James J. Moore in November 1957, and they raised five children in Chicago: Colleen, Kevin, Michael, Laura, and Kathleen. In every sense of the word, Mary Ann was a devoted and loyal homemaker and always an extraordinary mother. As a grandmother to Brian, Christine, Karen Marie, Daniel, Claire, and Nicholas, the loving essence of Mary Ann reached new heights.

She was also a devoted lifelong big sister to Todd, Sheila, Bernard, Casey, Celeste, and Eddie. As a daughter and granddaughter, a treasured aunt, a neighbor and friend, a mother-in-law, a grandmother and a great-grandmother to her beloved “little ones,” Mary Ann was a magnetic force to everyone in her midst. Her willingness to listen had a healing power. Her love was beyond category.

No one in the extended family shouldered more responsibilities than Mary Ann, who truly was the family’s Switchboard Operator. In the decades preceding desktop computers, e-mail, and other modern conveniences, Mary Ann managed school days and married life, holiday dinners, anniversary parties, family graduations, and special events of every type. She was the go-to person for anyone in trouble. And the combined generosity of Mary Ann and Jim was a life-saving gift to others on many occasions.

Beyond the family circle, Mary Ann had a tremendous impact on innumerable colleagues and students at Deerfield High School in Illinois, where as a special administrator for varied programs designed to help at-risk youth, Mary Ann’s wisdom and patience and compassion were valued greatly. It is simply not possible to convey in words how so many lives were uplifted by Mary Ann’s unique charisma.

She loved music, and adored great films and plays. As an avid reader of newspapers and magazines, Mary Ann was always deeply concerned about national and international crises. In search of solace from a world gone wrong, her love of horses was another lifelong devotion. There was nothing Mary Ann enjoyed more than grooming a horse and watching one of her daughters ride; that was as soulful to her as presiding over family holiday dinners when more than 50 relatives and friends gathered.

Mary Ann’s passing ends an era best defined by one song title: “There Will Never Be Another You.”

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.kayspongerpc.com for the Moore family.