Birth Date: 01/20/1942
Deceased Date: 12/09/2024
Ivan Flemming Moore, Jr., died at the age of 82 on Monday, December 9, 2024, surrounded by his family. It will come as no surprise to anyone who knew Ivan that he managed to leave his beloved wife Laura, his kids Chip and Whitney, and his sister in law Deb laughing through their tears as he took his final breaths.
Ivan was born in 1942 in Whitakers, NC. As the oldest son of Ivan Sr. and Maxine Moore and the brother of Steve, Ivan excelled at nearly everything he attempted – particularly if those things involved mischief. He grew up in Whitakers, which was a small enough town that everyone knew those Moore boys pretty intimately. The good people of Whitakers nonetheless saw fit to name Ivan as their acting police chief one summer when he was in college (and as the acting garbage man on Mondays). That appointment lasted one glorious summer, and it’s even possible that the people of Whitakers remember it as fondly as Ivan did.
If it had been an option in the early 1960s for Ivan to pursue a career as a professional shag dancer, his life might have turned out very differently. But despite winning accolades from his friends, his girlfriends, and his fraternity brothers, and at least one trophy from a shag contest at Myrtle Beach, Ivan focused on the future and graduated from Atlantic Christian College with a B.S. in Business. (The fact that Ivan earned a B.S. degree is, of course, entirely fitting.)
Ivan met Laura and fell in love, and they were married in 1970. They spent many nights at the Frog and Nightgown jazz club in Raleigh, and Ivan firmly believed that there was no event that couldn’t be improved by good bourbon and good music, preferably with Laura by his side. When they got their first apartment in Smithfield after they were married, they had priorities: they bought a killer stereo system before they even bought a sofa, and they brought home Gaylord and Dandelion, the world’s best sheepdogs. Ivan was pretty happy with his life to that point, but things got even better over the next few years: Whitney was born in 1978, then Chip was born in 1981, and then Dean Smith finally won a national championship in 1982.
Ivan delighted in telling people who asked his occupation that he made drugs for a living. In reality, he managed a team in Clayton that manufactured IV fluids that provided sick people with nutrition when they could not eat or drink by mouth. The name of the company changed over time as different pharmaceutical companies bought the facility — Kabi, Kabi Vitrum, Fresenius Kabi — but the one constant was that Ivan was very proud of his team and of the work they did, and the people he managed thought just as highly of him.
Ivan was also an amazing dad – he never missed a sporting event or a recital, even when they conflicted with a Carolina ball game. He did fail to take Whitney to the Born in the USA tour when it came through NC in 1985, but she forgave him, and he made up for it with subsequent family trips to see Rod Stewart, the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, and eventually even Springsteen, among others. He made sure Whitney and Chip learned the basics: how to swim, how to drive stick shift, and how to drink bourbon, and he taught Chip everything he knew about old cars. He also passed on his love for the Tar Heels to both Whitney and Chip, and he learned how to text later in life in large part so that he could chime in on the family text thread during Carolina basketball and football games.
Whitney and her husband Jacy provided Ivan and Laura with their first grandkid in 2014 with the birth of Cece, and then they added Mira and Ren over the next few years. Chip and his fiancee Noelle added Penelope, and then Tori rounded things off in 2023. Ivan never let anyone call him “granddaddy,” but he was a very proud grandfather — he just made the grandkids call him Ivan, which they found delightful.
Ivan’s final resting place will be the beach, where he found so many moments of joy and peace over the years. A memorial service will be held Sunday Jan. 5, 2025, at Centenary United Methodist Church at 3pm, followed afterwards by a celebration of Ivan’s life at his home. In lieu of flowers, please consider supporting the American Cancer Society or a dog rescue organization of your choice.
Online Condolences can be expressed at Parrishfh.com
