CLARENDON - John (Johnny) B. Moore, Jr. of Clarendon peacefully died of old age on Sunday morning. He was 89 years old and died at home on the same piece of ground where he was born, just where his father, the late J. Burton Moore, was born and died, across the levee fromWhite River. Johnny was attended by his son, J. Burton Moore III. He trusted fully in the complete work of Jesus Christ for his entrance into heaven.
Johnny Moore was born to John Burton Moore and Bessie Branch Moore on Sept. 18, 1918. He was preceded in death by his wife of 55 years, Jennie V Sharp Moore of Brinkley, as well as his sisters Dr. Margaret Moore Jacobs of Clarendon and Ruth Malone Vaughn of Little Rock. Johnny is survived by both his aforementioned son and his daughter, April. Son Burton resides in Roe with his wife, Sarah Lawson Moore, and their youngest son, Jeremiah. Two children, Lily and John Burton IV, are in college at Bryan College,Dayton, Tenn., and Kam Caldwell resides at Roe with her husband Wayne Caldwell, Jr. and their five children Jessica, Valen, Sarah Jane, Katie, and Whit. Johnnys daughter April resides in Covington, La., with her husband Ward Cashion. Their daughter, Branch, lives in Destin, Fla.
Johnnys passion was for his wife Jennie V, for hunting and fishing, and for raising dogs. He was also known for his love of the rivers just across the levee. At eight years old, he had trotlines strung in the back yard during the 1927 flood. His favorite fishing was in the 1950s for 5- to 8-foot alligator gar in the White River using ocean tackle. He loved the sport offered by the White and Cache Rivers and was known to balance Jennie V on his shoulders while riding a surfboard pulled by a speedboat. His hunting exploits include killing twelve quail with a double-barrel while standing on the same spot, bagging 24 wild turkeys in 24 shots over the course of 22 years, killing a 7-point elk, bagging all four North American Big Horn sheep, and participating in an unsuccessful 1958 hunting trip to theuncharted headwaters of the Amazon in search of jaguar.
Some of Johnnys milder accomplishments included pledging SAE at the University of Arkansas, running track, and attending law school at the University of Arkansas (Class of 41). He was personnel manager at a World War II shell-loading plant near Memphis then returned to Clarendon upon his fathers death to take over his law practice, manage the family farm, and care for his mother. The Army Corps of Engineers first developed their plan to channelize the Cache River in 1949. Johnny, being a lawyer, avid outdoorsman, and conservationist, took up the fight, as the Mouth of Cache was just a half-mile from his back yard. Being a wise Delta, multi-generational landowner, he understood the folly of clearing low land, which practice had led to the proposed drainage channel. Having lived through the 27 flood, he also understood the folly of dumping huge amounts of floodwater downstream quickly. He was well prepared for the battle of Cache River. For more than twenty years, he journeyed toWashington, D.C. to annually appear before congressional committees to kill the funding of the project. Initially, Congress was interested in no more than flood control, but because of his continual testimony, the first consideration of environment was given. Finally, at the last of the fight for the Cache, lead was turned over to Dr. Rex Han****. Johnny was a deeply committed, constitutionally-based, conservative movement, grass-roots leader from the earliest. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church of Clarendon and led in the fight against liberal theology, which culminated in the formation of the Presbyterian Church in America, writing the Arkansas plan for local congregations to separate from the liberal Presbyterian Church U.S. with their property intact.
As to his other great love - dogs. When Johnny was 12 years old, his father had shipped by train from Minnesota a beagle that Johnny named Ring; the same year he got a female named Queenie from Kentucky. People came from a distance just to see them because beagles were a rare breed at that time. This started him on a lifelong path of breeding, raising, running, showing, and selling hunting dogs. He later became president of both the Arkansas State and National Foxhunters Association. He was the M portion of the famous B & M Kennels with his lifelong friend and partner Jack Beard. They won both the Arkansas State Show and Field Trial in 1956 and later the National Show twice. He passed with a pack of six Walker Foxhounds in his back yard.
In the months before he died, his usual statement was Im just give out. Johnnys last words were, Im doing all right, and Amen.
Visitation will be Tuesday from 6-8 p.m. at Brown Funeral Home in Clarendon. Funeral will be at the Clarendon Presbyterian Church at 11 a.m. with interment at Shady Grove Cemetery. Memorials can be made to Palmer Home for Children, P.O. Box 746, Columbus, Miss. 39703 or Shady Grove Cemetery Association, P.O. Box 194, Clarendon, Ark. 72029.
