Margaret Ramona Moore
Thu, 06/19/2014 - 6:00am
News Staff
Longtime Gunnison resident Margaret Ramona Moore — Ramona, as she was mostly known to friends and family — was born July 25, 1920, in Tiger, Colo., the daughter of Forest Ray and Minnie Agatha (Coan) La Plante. She passed away on Friday, June 6, at the age of 93, after suffering a stroke. Ramona’s grandparents La Plante were among the first settlers up Ohio Creek, owning a ranch at Baldwin. Her father grew up there and met Ramona’s mother, whose family had moved out from West Virginia. After marrying, her parents left the Gunnison area to follow the mining towns and work up in the Breckenridge and Oak Creek areas where Ramona and her younger brother Jack were born. She came to live in Gunnison at the age of 13, when her parents returned to the area. She graduated from Gunnison High School in the late ‘30s. In the ‘40s, while her father was working in mines in Ouray, Ramona’s mother rented out a room in their family home at 422 Pine Street to John Moore, Ramona’s future husband-to-be, who was attending Western State College on the GI Bill, after serving four years in the Navy. During this period, Ramona had developed cancer of the tongue and left for New York for an operation. Only 27 at the time, Ramona won the battle with her cancer and shared her survivor story many times with others. In December of 1947 Ramona and John were married in Gunnison. They left shortly after and headed to Denver, where John was employed with Lowry Air Force Base. They raised four children in Denver where Ramona was a full time housewife and mother. Upon John’s retiring, they returned again in 1974 to a new location on Pine Street to build a house, which they owned until their deaths. Ramona’s last three years of life were spent at the GVH Senior Care Center where she was very socially active and enjoyed the staff and residents there. She also enjoyed many friends in the community she dearly loved. Surviving Ramona are her three daughters, Rebecca (Phil) Moore of Cortez, Colo.; Paulette Lehnert of Wichita, Kan.; and Christina (John) Xarhis of Goodland, Kan.; 13 grandchildren; six greatgrandchildren; and sister-in-law Helen Briggs of Burlingame, Kan.; nieces and a nephew. Preceding her in death was her husband of 62 years John Moore; her eldest child and only son, Gregory Moore; only sibling and brother, Jack LaPlante; two brothers-in-law, Kenneth Moore and Raymond Briggs; and a son-in-law, Alan Lehnert. Graveside services for Ramona were held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, at the Gunnison Cemetery. Deacon Vince Rogalski officiated.
