Edward McGehee Moore Jr., affectionately known throughout his life as Mickey, was born December 13, 1937 in McComb, Mississippi to Edward M. Moore Sr. "McGehee" and Janie Dean Mayes Moore. He left his earthly life on January 31, 2022. Mickey liked to tell everyone he spent his early years in prison. Technically he did, as his dad was the prison dentist at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, when he was very small. However, he spent most of his childhood in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. He was a member of the Rolling Fork Baptist church and he served as a volunteer fireman with the Rolling Fork Volunteer Fire Company. He joined the Navy Reserve while in high school. He graduated in 1956 from Rolling Fork High School where he played and lettered in football and band. He played the flute.
After graduation, Mickey attended Hines Jr. College before transferring to the University of Mississippi aka "Ole Miss." While we are sure he studied hard because he did graduate with a BS in Psychology, we really only heard stories of all the crazy antics involving he and his friends. Highly entertaining stories that would have had him kicked out of any college today. We have his diploma, so apparently they never got caught. He remained a loyal Ole Miss Rebel all of his life. (Hotty Toddy!)
While at Ole Miss, Mickey was a member of the Army ROTC after being decommissioned from the Navy Reserve and received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army following his graduation in 1960. After training at Ft. Benning, Georgia he was stationed for 3 years near Nuremburg, Germany where he met his future wife, Helen "Sue" McCarty, an Army nurse from Pennsylvania. Mickey was stationed in Alaska then went to the Dominican Republic during the revolution. Finally he and Sue married November 21st, 1964 and less than 2 years later gave birth to their 1st child, Heidi, in 1966 while Mickey was on his 1st one year deployment to Vietnam. After his return Sue gave birth to their 2nd child, Mick, in 1967. Mickey was then deployed to Vietnam for another year. He returned and the family moved to Maryland where Sue gave birth to Jeff in 1970 and Marshall in 1973. The family then relocated to Hawaii from 1973 until 1975. Two months from obtaining his Lt. Colonel, Mickey was impacted by the reduction in force by the Carter Administration and became a Special Agent (civilian employee) for the Department of Defense then Homeland Security essentially doing the same job as he did in the military. During his service, Mickey was awarded a Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal (7 Campaigns), Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal w/60 Device, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Presidential Unit Citation, Psychological Warfare Medal (2D Class) and Vietnam Cross of Gallantry w/Palm.
After several years in South Dakota, the family made their last move in 1982 to Plano, Texas. In 2000, Mickey became a heart transplant recipient after several heart attacks and bypass surgery. His donor was a 21 year old female and if you didn't hear from Mickey about how he could never "pass by a mall" post transplant, then you never really met him. In 2001, he was one of the nominees for Plano Father of the Year. He retired in 2006 with 44 combined years with the US Government. After losing Sue in 2007, Mickey found friends and comfort at Plano VFW post 4380 where he volunteered to give out and educate people about buddy poppies, help the ladies auxiliary raise money, attended Veterans Day programs at local schools, participated in local parades and served as post Chaplain. He made many good friends over the years. Mickey never met a stranger.
Mickey was a huge Dallas Stars, Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers fan. He was also a proud soccer grandpa. He cheered on his Ole Miss Rebels and enjoyed traveling. He cherished his family and was beloved by them all. Mickey is preceded in death by wife, Helen "Sue" Moore