David Guy Moore, 67 of Denton, passed away at home on November 15, 2019. David was born in Lubbock, Texas to Ernest Guy and Mary Verena (Taylor) Moore. He attended Tascosa High School in Amarillo.
David earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas with high honors in 1975, and went on to complete his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Texas in 1980. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine, He became Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He then earned a J.D. degree (with honors) from the South Texas College of Law in 1988, and became a registered patent attorney in 2002.
David practiced Patent, Trademark, Copyright law, Health Law and general civil litigation. David was a member of the American Society for Law, Medicine, and Ethics, as well as The Association of University Technology Managers and the Texas Inventors Association.
David married Lesa Ford in 1987. They were members of the St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Denton. David was an avid sports fan and enjoyed watching U.T. football. He also enjoyed spending time in the country observing nature, and spending time with his dogs.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church on Saturday, November 23, 2019 at 11:00 A.M.with The Rev. Donald K. Johnson officiating.
David is survived by his wife Lesa Ford Moore of Denton.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Guy and Verena Moore.
Memorials may be made in memory of David’s Life to: St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, in Denton, Texas.
Paula Wallace (Cairns)
I am so saddened to hear the news about David. He was a sweet boy with a dry wit. He was a kind friend-.
Jim Rayburn
David's Website
http://davidmoorelegal.com/
Dayle Tipton
David was a friend to many through out our years in school. He and I met at Crockett about 1964 and were friends from that point. He was smart, attentive and seemed to always be a step ahead of me in many regards, but we remained friends. A group of us often found ourselves at David's house and his parents allowed us to at least pass through from time to time. We found out that David's mom often treated her Pinkeneese dog "Boy" better than David or at least that was his perspective on certain days!
David and I often played the same position in football. When we were in uniforms, we looked about the same. He always said when I did something wrong on the field the coaches called me by his name. He also said when he did something good, they would call him by my name. That is just one evidence of his self depreciating humor. David was a very good football player and he was fast for his size. In a baseball game in our junior year, Coach Lowery put David in as a pinch runner.
Life around David was so much more than sport. David was very intelligent, witty, had a wonderful sarcastic sense of humor and no one was safe from his barbs. Read through David's posts on the Tascosa71.com website about the jokes he played on people. Even with the internet age, a group of us kept in touch with emails and chided each other. One of his recent phrases is "the USA is turning into a banana republic" and I agree with that one. David and his wife, Lesa, had a country place near Atoka, OK. It was somewhat of a get-away place with dirt roads, ATVs and a tractor. David told me interesting stories of his adventures on a 4-wheeler and even driving the tractor in a business suit. Sounds like the TV show Green Acres.
Many of us have lost a good friend. David had various relationships with many people over the years, but I bet all of them were sound relationships. Now many are probably thinking David made that relationship special. I spoke with Lesa and she will surely miss him and his friends will, too. It is a sad day when we lose a friend. Dayle Tipton
Brad Carver
I went to David's funeral yesterday. It was very nice. Most of the poeple there knew David from his Church. He read the Bible quotes for early service, every Sunday. He read the first Sunday in November. I believe they call it Liturgy in his Episcopal church. It's always nice to know that he was strong in his faith. He was very active and had been on the planning committee for building this new building that he had his service in. I was not a close running buddy of Davids, but of course I knew him and respected him. In HS if I ever made a joke about him or around him , all he had to do was give me " the Mean Look" and I would shut up. So funny. In Austin, I played against him in slow pitch softball league. I didn't recoginize this Beast that kept hitting it over the fence,, until about the third time he rounded the bases. I had never seen a softball hit so far. We talked at reunions; etc. I was so shocked to find out several years ago that he had a Medical degree and Law degree. How many people can say that? fanatastic. He was obviously pretty brilliant and driven. So sorry for his wife's loss. May he Rest in Peace
Clarence Annett
David's death has really hit me hard. In many ways our lives were quite parallel. We were both raised Episcopalian and were congregants at St Peters Episcopal Church from day 1 when the church was organized (we were only 4 years old then). Our fathers were both longtime members of the Vestry (the church governing body) and both were chairman of that body for quite a few years each. David and I were also both frowned upon by many of the parishoners because we did not join the church's Boy Scout Troop (Troop 99) but instead decided to join the older, larger, better Troop 80. David's dad was the advancement chairman for the troop for several years and personally interviewed each boy who came up for rank advancement, so I got to know him well.
David and I both attended Trinity Lutheran grade school and were classmates in grades K through 3. I transferred to Avondale Elementary School after third grade, but David stayed at Trinity through 6th grade. We were a small, tight group of kids that included Joe Mack, David Gilbert, Marshall Cutright, Rusty Roush (oops, I mean Fred--since his red hair turned gray, nobody can remember why we ever called him Rusty), Joe Carl Wilson, Joe Neidermayer, and Richard Kampen. (Joe Neidermayer went to Austin Jr. High and Amarillo High, and Richard Kampen left abruptly during second grade when his father, an Air Force Officer, was transferred). Jan Gentry, Teena Haiduk, and Lori Howell were also in our class. The 9 of us boys used to sit on the back row of Trinity's sanctuary in the compulsory Friday Morning Chapel Services, and because of that TWICE we all damn near got expelled. The first time was when we were in first grade and the opening hymn at chapel was We Three Kings. We all sang
"We three Kings of orient are trying to smoke a rubber cigar, it was loaded and it exploded, boom like a falling star"
I guess we got a little carried away and sang it too loud, and the principal heard us. We all got our asses chewed, but we escaped expulsion because our parents promised it wouldn't happen again. When we got home, David's dad and my dad laughed themselves silly, but both of our moms were a bit miffed at us.
The second time was in second grade. Somehow we discovered that we could sing the Doxology to the tune of Hernando's Hideaway:
"Praise God--from Whom--all blessings flow(cha cha cha) Praise Him--all crea--tures here below (cha cha cha) Praise Him--above--ye heavenly host (cha cha cha) Praise Faaather Son and Holy Ghost (cha cha cha) AAAmen!
We got carried away with the cha cha cha's and the principal heard us (a different principal that the one the year before, with even less sense of humor). This time the grace of the Lord was the only thing that saved us from expulsion. Third grade chapels were very quiet on the back row.
I kept track of David through our adventures in Troop 80, even though he went to Crockett and I went to Sam Houston. We shared a 2-man tent a number of times and helped each other a lot on our rank advancements and merit badges. David completed and received his Eagle badge about 2 years before me, and I remember with fondness and gratitude that when I received mine, he shook my hand and hugged me and said "you deserve this and I'm proud of you".
I also know that David apparently never told anyone but me, but I guess I can tell it now--His real reason for leaving biochemistry was moral and ethical. David was doing some cutting-edge work in an area we now know as gene splicing, genetically modified organisms, and cloning--manipulating the very building blocks of life at the atomic and molecular level. When he was doing it, it could only be done on very simple organisms like single cells and some viruses, but David looked ahead to times when whole complex organisms could be cloned--like Dolly the sheep, and eventually even people. He did not want to be a part of any of this for moral and ethical reasons (he told me he remembered reading about how Hitler wanted to produce a "master race of perfect people"), so he hung it up and moved on to a new line of work. I admired him for his courage to follow his ethics, especially after I confronted some of the same challenges while I worked on Laser weapons for the Army, which violated hell out of the Geneva and Hague conventions.
Finally, David took care of his widowed mother, moving her to his home downstate when she could no longer live alone in Amarillo. I did likewise for my mom here in Kansas several years later.
So many memories, too many to recount here. The last thing I want to say is to David himself:
Build a good fire, buddy, and keep the coffee pot hot. I'll see you again someday at the end of the trail.
Paula Wallace (Cairns)
I've enjoyed reading these memories and stories of David so much, thanks to those who have posted for taking the time to share them.
Jan Gentry (Exposito)
I, too, have enjoyed reading all these comments of memories of David. So glad everyone has just good memories of him. He was an honorable and brilliant man.