The Tyler Chronicle Winter, 2022 Worldwide Edition
 Mary Alma Moore Association
(MAMA) Mary Alma Moore, 1898... Last of the "pioneer women" and a remarkable person in any age, decades ago laid the groundwork for what today promises to become one of the most unusual natural parks of its kind. The 56-acres near Tyler, Texas has already become an "island of refuge" for countless wild animals which seek shelter from urban sprawl and the clanking bulldozers of encroaching "developers".
We invite you to visit this page often to keep up to date on the history and development of the park and the related activities of Mary Alma Moore Association (MAMA).
On August 1, 1985 the park was dedicated. Following is the complete text of the dedicatory address made by Bobby D. Moore on that day.
Mary Alma Moore Memorial Park Groundbreaking
(Interlude Fades)
"The Waste Land" T.S. Elliot
Speaker: Bobby D. Moore
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
Introduction
Speaker: Good afternoon friends. My name is Bobby Dean Moore. And it is my privilege to welcome you at this time to groundbreaking ceremonies for Mary Alma Moore Memorial Park.
Some of you may be wondering why this particular day and hour were chosen for this ceremony. The reason is that my mother, Mary Alma Moore, was born on this day and on this hour. And since the park we are about to build here is created in her honor, it seemed appropriate to begin it on the day and hour of her birth.
Sometime in the future I plan to publish a small pamphlet which will contain many facts about my mother, Mary Alma Moore, and this park which is being created in her memory. If you would like a copy, be sure to sign the register before you leave. Include your name, address, and telephone number. And when the booklet is completed I will mail a copy to you.... free of course.
When making up the program for today, I wrote two versions; one extended version for use on a cool afternoon, and an abbreviated version for a hot afternoon. Since this is a hot afternoon, as we might expect on the first day of August, you will be exposed to the short version.
The program is brief, but if you need to move to a shade or have a drink during the proceedings, please feel free to do so.
Mary Alma Moore Memorial Park when completed, will consist of five acres of woodlands, nature trails, a wildlife protected area, and a memorial library.
The first of several phases of development is expected to be completed by August 1, 1986.
The park is privately owned and privately financed. But it will be open to all who appreciate its beauty.
Mary Alma Moore Memorial Park will be a place of beauty, peace, and rest; a place to contemplate, to meditate. It will be a place to commune with one's self and God and Nature.
It will be a dedicated and sacred and holy place.
The park is designed to express the nature of Mary Alma Moore. She loved beauty. She loved nature... the trees... the birds... and the little animals of the woods.
And they knew and trusted her. They were fed here and they found safety here... to the extent that she could afford it to them.
Many is the time she would rescue an injured animal and nurse it back to health. It mattered not what the creature; wren or rabbit, cardinal or crow, she expressed kindness and care... and love.
The central feature of Mary Alma Moore Memorial Park will be a twenty foot tall monument of pink granite, weighing over ten tons and set upon a foundation which will be dug here today at the culmination of this program.
Granite was chosen because of its almost indestructable nature... the monument placed here will be millions of years old when it is set in place and becomes a part of this park.
Granite is an ancient and igneous rock... meaning a rock borne of fire. Granite forms the very foundations of the continents themselves.
Its color is pink... warm and delicate. Texas granite similar to that to be used here has been used to construct great monuments throughout the world... the state capitol at Austin, Grand Central Station in New York, and many others.
It is appropriate to build this monument of dependable, unfailing, granite. Granite comes as close to being an indestructable material as any found in nature.
My mother was dependable and unfailing, and indestructable. She was always there for me when I needed her. No matter what the personal cost or embarrassment to her. She never... never ever once in all my life let me down.
Mary Alma Moore was the Universal Beacon, the Unmiversal Unfailing Constant of all my life. She was my only true friend. She was the finest, fairest, and noblest of all the people I ever knew.
She was my mother. And I loved her with all my heart... as she loved me. She lived her life for me and I lived mine for her. I always knew how much she cared for me... And like all the great gifts of life... like air, like breath, like sunshine... I took her for granted.
But I didn't really know how much I loved her and how much my very day to day existence depended upon her until the tragic fire which occurred here in the early morning hours of Sunday, January 20, 1985.
That event of unspeakable horror on that bitterly cold and windy night took my mother's life. And with her a part of me died. And that part may never live again.
A few moments ago I made a statement which may have struck you as odd. I stated that my mother was indestructable. And now I seem to be telling you that she was indeed destroyed.
But I tell you my friends, most emphatically... mary alma Moore was NOT destroyed!
There can be little reasonable doubt that her physical form was reduced to cinders on that night. But the noble spirit, the unconquerable will, and the beauty that was Mary Alma Moore was released of its earthly confinements.
She was set free. And she exists. She exists within me. She exists in this place. And she will exist forever more.
We are not here to mourn! We are here to celebrate the life of a great and noble person.
On this occasion, may we proclaim with Electra in the ancient Greek tragedy... reverant before the tomb of her father, Agamemnon:
Thou art not dead!
Tho' housed with spirits where
Thy children dwell!
For children are as echoes
To proclaim their parents' fame.
Mother loved poetry... and every once in a while she would ask me to recite a poem for her. One of her favorites was a little poem I learned way back in fifth grade at Whitehouse School.
She asked me to recite it for her after dinner, thwe night of the fire. I was preoccupied with other thoughts. And the fact that she asked me quite frankly irritated me. I bluntly and impolitely refused.
I read it now.
When Earth's Last Picture Is Painted
When Earth's last picture is painted
And the tubes are all twisted and dried
When the oldest color has faded
And the youngest critic has died,
We shall rest, and faith we shall need it
Lie down for an eon or two
'Til the Master of all good workmen
Shall put us to work anew.
And those that were good shall be happy,
They shall sit in a golden chair
They shall splash at a ten league canvas
With brushes of comet's hair.
They shall find real saints to draw from
Magdeline, Peter, and Paul
They shall work for an age at a sitting
And never be tired at all
And only the Master shall praise us
And only the Master shall blame
And no one will work for money
And on one will work for fame.
But each for the joy of the working
And each in his separate star
Shall draw the thing as he sees it
For the God of things as they are.
The last verse of William Cullen Bryant's...
Thanatopsis
So live, that when they summons comes to join
That innumerable caravan, which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
Like one who wraps the draperyh of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
Now I would like to borrow and paraphrase a few lines from Alfred Tate's eulogy to Thomas Alva Edison, delivered at the first memorial meeting of the Edison Pioneers at the Hotel Astor in New York, February 11, 1932.
And until the toll of time shall have been fully paid
Until my voice is forever hushed
On each and every anniversary of her birth
The name of Mary Alma Moore will be extolled
And her fame proclaimed
By one who has known
And loved her.
Now, in conclusion, I pray...
Almighty God.
Bless and make sacred this place. I ask that you fill every stone, every statue, every tree and every brook, every fountain and every structure with your holy presence and power.
May the song of every bird and the beauty of every flower instill joy and happiness and enrich the lives of all who come here. Here may they learn wisdom. May their broken hearts and broken homes be mended. May their shattered lives be re-directed by your power.
May this place be a force for good. May it be a joy and a blessing to all who come to know it.
UKse me as an insgtrument to bring to reality the plans for this park. Bless and guide my efforts. Not for my benefit, but for the cause of all that is beautiful and good and true and holy.
And may we always remember... now and for all the decades to come, the life of Mary Alma Moore, who saved and cherished, and protected this place.
Who lived a life of dedication to your cause and who never lost her faith.
NOTE:
The Mary Alma Moore Association is dedicated to education, conservation, preservation of the natural environment, helping those who help themselves, and promoting the lofty ideals which were so much a part of the life of Mary Alma Moore. If you would like more information, please call 903-707-6258. Your interests and support are greatly appreciated.
For more information, call Bobby D. Moore at 903-707-6258.
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