ERNESTINE MOORE, Obituary

KIRKLAND, Wash. Ernestine Moore, 83, died Monday, April 15, 2001, at Kirkland, Wash.

Service was held Friday at Kirkland Senior Citizens' Center in Kirkland.

Moore was born June 3, 1918, in San Antonio, Texas, to Ernest and Alice Martin Boothe. She was the youngest of seven children.

Ernestine grew up in San Antonio, and was a homemaker and mother as she followed her husband across the country in his Air Force career.

After retirement, they settled in Havre in 1964. They moved to Gildford about 1980. She was a member of the Havre Ladies Auxiliary VFW Post 497.

Ernestine had the gift of making wonderful friendships everywhere she went. Whether she was giving away her homemade zucchini relish or her garden vegetables, she always enjoyed sharing with others. Ernestine's gardening and canning could fill a pantry for months of enjoyable eating. Ernestine has been an environmentalist and recycler before the words were popular. Everything was cleaned and neatly organized and soon found a second use.

She shared her husband's love of the outdoors as they camped and fished the streams of Montana and Colorado with their children.

After the death of her husband in 1996, Ernestine, at 77, moved to Kirkland, Wash., to be nearer her children. With a rental truck loaded with her favorite possessions, she packed a cooler with sandwiches, filled a thermos with coffee and climbed into the cab with her grandson, Rusty, for the drive from Gildford to Kirkland. Once settled in Washington, Ernestine quickly learned the bus routes and started over to make friends through the Kirkland Senior Citizens' Center and with her new neighbors in Houghton.

Ernestine volunteered for kitchen duty and flower gardening at the Kirkland Senior Citizens' Center and found a wonderful circle of friends with staff and other seniors. She loved the Mariners and would turn down dinner invitations in order to not miss a game. Ernestine had the gift of making others laugh. As she struggled through her last two weeks in the hospital she maintained her ability find humor. Her family feels a great loss in their lives, but will always have wonderful memories of Ernestine Virginia Boothe Moore.

She is survived by her loving sister, Dorothy Boothe Marvil of Washington, D.C., her daughter, Tricia Stromberg and her husband Russ of Kirkland; her sons, Rex Moore and his wife Bonnie of Arlington, Wash., and Robert Betterton and his wife Michele of Queensland, Australia; eight grandchildren; one great-grandchild.