South Burnett Times, Tuesday, November 25, 2003 Obituaries Rev Eric Roy MOORE OBE (1926-2003) Eric MOORE was born at Wondai, Queensland, the fifth son of Paul and Annie MOORE. His only surviving brother Gordon resides in Kingaroy, the other four brothers predeceased him – John, Raymond, James, Stanley. Eric was educated at the West Wooroolin school and after scholarship (the first to sit from the school) he went on to Brisbane Boys College where he passed his junior exams. His college education was interrupted by the death of his father in 1942 and two of his brothers at that time were serving in the armed forces. He entered the ministry of the Methodist Church as a home missionary in 1947 and began work in the Mackay district, working from Proserpine to Sarina for a year and covered over 30,000 miles on an ex-army BSA motorcycle. At this time it was all dirt road. He lived in the rear of a church and was ordained in Brisbane in 1953. During training he served as a probationer at Wooloowin and Redcliffe. He was responsible for opening up the work at Clontarf, where a temporary building was erected so a church could be built later. In 1953 he married Jean TAINTON and they raised three sons and a daughter. Jean’s father, Rev Joseph TAINTON worked the Wondai Methodist circuit in the late 1930s. Eric served the church at Bundaberg(1953-56); Croker Island Mission, NT (1956-61); Brisbane Central Mission (1962-65) and Ipswich Central Mission (1966-91). He was also secretary of the Presbytery of West Moreton (1977-80), Moderator of the Queensland Synod (1984-85) and chairperson of the Presbytery of West Moreton (1989-90). He served on a number of the committees of the Queensland Synod. Throughout his ministry in Ipswich he was heavily committed to building up the community service areas. He guided the expansion of the Blue Nursing Service (domiciliary into the Lockyer Valley, Lowood-Rosewood, Esk-Brisbane Valley-Kilcoy and Fassifern Valley). He took the initiative in establishing the West Moreton Aged Homes Council, a group comprising representatives of the Blue Nursing Service and Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches. He filled the position of chairperson until his retirement in 1991. He completely upgraded other existing nursing home accommodation, established Lifeline Ipswich and was its founding director. Eric was awarded Citizen of the Year by Ipswich Chamber of Commerce (1976), Queens Silver Medal (1977) and an OBE (1980). Aware of the needs of disable people he founded an industrial laundry which employed 90 disabled persons. Ipswich Central Mission moved into the area of placing disabled persons into full time commercial employment in the community and supporting them there. Eric’s last major task at Ipswich Central Mission was to lead a campaign in which $1 million was raised to redevelop aged care facilities. He took initiatives that led to the restructuring of the Ipswich Ministers Fraternal. Eric went on to serve at State and national levels community service areas within the church. As a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ipswich Grammar School for several years, he played a vital role in the development of new buildings at the school. He upgraded the staff superannuation fund. Jean and Eric retired to Rainbow Beach in 1991 where they became actively involved in community and church. They were chaplains for Centres for Retirement Living at Gympie, both at Winston House and Grevillea Gardens. Ill health resulted in Eric being admitted to Winston House where he lived until his death on August 1. ________________________________________________ Message sent using Dodo Internet Webmail Server