D Jesse Moore

D Jesse Moore was born February 18, 1948 to Vernon Oscar and Priscilla Dorthula (Haun) Moore at their home and farm in rural Morris County, Kansas. D, 76, passed May 3, 2024 at Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka, Kansas. 

D’s first school was a one-room schoolhouse about a mile from where he was born. In this school, he was taught by his mother for one year. After that year, he attended Dwight Grade School and subsequently Dwight Rural High School where he graduated with the class of 1966. That year, he was the point guard of the Dwight Rockets State champion class BB basketball team. He was also a running back on the State Champion 8-man football team that year. In 1991 these teams were inducted into the Kansas High School Hall of Fame. After high school, he attended McPherson College for two years where he played football. He then transferred to Kansas State University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 1970. After graduation from KSU, he sold insurance for a couple of years. He recounted several times that he did not particularly care for the job. 

In 1972 he came back to Morris County to the farm and ranch where he grew up to work alongside his father. In the fall of 1973, he met Amy J. Weidenheimer in Manhattan, KS. He and Amy were married on December 28, 1974 at the Episcopal church in Kinsley, KS

In 1976 D and his brother Eldon formed a partnership and took over the family farm from their father Vernon. Eldon worked off farm and helped on evenings and weekends while D managed the day to day farming and ranching operation. In 1977 D and Amy had a son, Russell, who joined in working alongside D, Eldon, and Vernon. In 1979, D and Amy had a daughter, Julie, who would join D, Eldon, and Vernon on occasion. D and Eldon continued to farm and raise their families on this farm throughout the 80’s and after Vernon passed in 1991. D and Eldon continued to operate the farm together until Eldon passed in 2011. D continued operations from 2011 until his death in 2024.

D had very high standards of quality when it came to the care of his animals, crops, and the maintenance of his equipment. If an item was not to his standards, he addressed it his way. This meant spending hours checking over, rebuilding, and/or redesigning/modifying equipment, cropping strategies, or nutrition plans to make certain they met his specifications and performed to his expectations. However, when it came to people, he let them be who they were, not expecting them to change to meet his expectations and was an empathetic, listening ear.

D continued to enjoy many different sports by playing on various community baseball and basketball teams, coaching his children’s baseball teams and even his grandchildren’s sports teams. In any spare time, he might have, he enjoyed fishing in the various ponds or creeks around the farm, and could be found fishing with his grandkids. In addition, D enjoyed hunting when he could and often accompanied Russell on pheasant hunting trips. If you happened to meet D at home or in town, you could be certain that he had a canine companion close by or out in the truck. 

D was preceded in death by his parents, Vernon and Priscilla Moore, a brother, Eldon E. Moore, and brother-in-law, Louis Robinson. 

He is survived by his wife Amy, son Russell Moore (Amy) of Alta Vista, KS, daughter Julie Noeth (Byron) of Ramona, KS, two sisters Barbara Robinson, Hutchinson, KS and Phyllis Moore (Harlan Heald), Lincoln, NE, and sister-in-law Olivia Moore, Manhattan, KS. D is also survived by his grandchildren Clara Jenell Noeth, Rhett Jesse Noeth, and Alexis (Lexi) Ann Todd who all lovingly called him Papa. 

A visitation will be held at Sawyer Funeral Home in Council Grove, Kansas on Wednesday, May 22^nd from 5:30pm to 7:00pm. His Celebration of Life will be held at Dwight Community Church in Dwight, Kansas on Thursday, May 23^rd at 11:00am. 

Memorial contributions are suggested to the Morris County 4-H Foundation and sent in care of Sawyer Funeral Home, PO Box 273, Council Grove, KS, 66846.