Barbara Moore

Nov. 2007

Barbara M. Moore, daughter of the late Robert Meredith Moore and Helen Peck Moore, long term resident of Philadelphia, graduate of Germantown Friends School, BA Mt. Holyoke College, and MSW University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work.

Employed by Sleighton Farm School for Girls, Delaware County; Family Court, Wilmington, DE; Philadelphia Guidance Clinic; Child Guidance Clinic, Austin, TX; Public Schools, Greenwich, CT; Associate Director National Association of Social Workers; Associate Professor Graduate Department of Social Work, University of Illinois; Professor Graduate Department of Social Work, California State university, Fresno.

A resident and active member of Foulkeways community in Gynwedd, PA since 1992.

She spent all the summers of her life in Northfield until she suffered a stroke in 2001. It was her spiritual home, as it is for so many.

She is survived by her sister Mary Helen Moore Neuendorffer Pfeifer Taylor, her brother Edgar Benjamin Moore, their spouses, six nieces and nephews, 13 great nieces and nephews, and eight great great nieces and nephews, all frequent visitors to the Rustic Ridge.

Memorial Service of Barbara Meredith Moore

November 11, 2007

Listening and listening and listening. Listening is one of Aunt Barbie’s greatest gifts. When I was little, she would visit us. I would talk to her and she would listen to me. It was a calm, thoughtful listening, accompanied by an occasional gentle question.

Later in my life, I thought that her gift of listening contributed to her success in the field of social work. She began her career in schools and other venues. She then moved to a position of national leadership when she assumed the role of Associate Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers. She traveled throughout the United States working on programs that educated and supported other social workers.

But she did not stop there. She became a professor at California State University in Fresno. She moved from educating and supporting other social workers to nurturing social workers of the future. I’m certain that she imparted to her students the critical importance of listening.

And in her retirement, her gift of listening did not diminish. She continued to listen to me and, I’m sure, listened to you.

Aunt Barbie, I’m going to miss you.

Thank you for listening.

Cynthia L. Moore, niece of Ms. Moore