Franklin Wayne Moore

Frank was born to Wayne(Bill) and Hazelle Moore on May 26,1935 at their home in Wallace, Kansas in the middle of a dust storm. He was the oldest of four children. He had a brother, Vern and two sisters, Della and Lola. Della passed away when she was 10 days old. Frank was raised on a farm and was 6 years old when he started milking cows and driving a tractor. On school days, Frank, his dad, and brother would get up at 3:00AM to milk cows and feed pigs and then after school, they would milk, feed and do any repairs needed until 9:00PM. He operated and repaired farm equipment, often having to fabricate parts when they were unavailable or too expensive. He had to be patient and diligent. He would use his mechanical skills he learned on the farm for the rest of his life. He once told his grandchildren that he was proud to be a farmer. They made a living selling their animals and crops. He said, “Unless you see it with your own eyes, you will never know what a fresh wonderful feeling it is to see crops and animals grow.”

Frank attended grade school in Wallace and graduated from Wallace County Community High School in 1953. After High School, he attended Wayne School Utilities Engineering Institute in Chicago, Illinois in 1953-54, studying diesel mechanics and general engineering principles. After graduating, he enlisted in the army in November 1954, often applying his knowledge of diesel mechanics and welding to repair heavy equipment that no one knew how to fix. Although Frank could not swim and had never previously operated a boat, he was assigned to be the skipper of a Marine Landing Craft in the Panama Canal region. He was a skipper for three years and he never learned how to swim. He was honorably discharged from the army in October 1957, but remained in the reserves until November 1962.

Frank moved to Castle Rock in 1956 and remained in Douglas County for the rest of his life. He worked with his father in an excavation business and later, he worked for Hier Drilling. Frank also worked with his good friend Rich Stevens running heavy equipment to construct foundations, dams, roads, and bridges. He would proudly point out projects that he had been involved in constructing throughout Douglas County. He later worked at Ensign Bickford in Louviers, CO as a maintenance machinist for twenty nine years, finally retiring in 2000.

Frank had two children from his first marriage, Marla and Carl Moore. He married Christine Worsley on February 18,1978 and became a stepdad to her three children. He and Chris had nearly forty-four wonderful years together enjoying family, friends and their hobbies before she passed away in January 2021.

Frank was predeceased by his wife Chris, his parents, Wayne(Bill)and Hazelle, his brother Vern and his infant sister Della. He is survived by his sister Lola Buck, his two children, Carl Moore and Marla Moore, three stepchildren, Randolph Worsley, Susan (Worsley) Willis, and Jana (Worsley) Rodenborn, several grandchildren, great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.

He had a shop full of meticulously maintained tools and was always working on projects, repairing vehicles, or fixing things around the house. Frank was alway generous with his time, often helping friends, neighbors, and family. He enjoyed teaching and was extremely patient when someone was interested in learning a new skill.

Frank has been described by family and friends with words such as Quiet, Patient, Kind, Loving, Generous, Helpful, Meticulous, and Diligent. His favorite exclamations and quotes were “Good Grief”, “ Sic Em”, and “The food was good but the entertainment was lousy!” It took a lot to make him angry, but you knew when he was because he slapped his hands together and rubbed them back and forth vigorously, sometimes without saying a word. He always had room for ice cream. He was clean shaven and had very clean and soft, lotioned hands, especially considering his routine manual labor. He loved his Red Wing boots, of which he had three pairs; one old pair for outside work, one clean pair for in the house, and one new oiled pair for special occasions.

We miss him so much everyday. We all have memories of him standing by the garage door or in the picture window waving goodbye until we drove out of sight. It is time for us to wave a loving goodbye to him one more time.

There will be a Celebration of Life at the Moore residence at 105 Hill Drive Castle Rock CO on Sunday, June 26, 2022 from 1-4:00PM. Please join us for this celebration and share your fond memories of Frank with us.

Although Frank was not a wounded veteran, he was very proud of serving his country. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to The Fisher House Foundation. They have an excellent reputation for helping veterans. They are recommended and rated among the top five foundations for veterans to benefit from their donations. This foundation has several programs to help veterans. The Fisher House Program serves veteran and military families by providing a FREE “home-away-from-home” while their loved one is receiving medical treatment for illness, disease, or injury. There are Fisher houses all over the country, including here in Colorado. Please research the Fisher House Foundation at www.fisherhouse.org/donate