Bill Moore, Fisherman, Chef Extraordinary, Died Monday

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Blair lost half of its Negro population Monday when Bill Moore, well known and highly respected citizen for nearly a half century, died. Bill was 91. His wife survives him.

Born in Houston Texas, Bill’s parents died when he was a lad of but 14 years of age. Like all Negro boys in the South before the turn of the century, there was not much opportunity for education or training, but Bill, against many odds, developed into a respected and useful citizen.

As a young man he became highly sensitive to the need for Negroes to win a place in America by means of gentlemanly conduct and good service and Bill developed and followed this code throughout his entire life. He developed a polish and courteous manner which won him a job as a chair car porter on the Union Pacific railroad when he was but a young man.

Tall, straight, and possessed with a liking for good clothes, Bill soon distinguished himself as the gentlemanly type of Negro. After a time as a chair car porter, he became a railroad chef. From this he went to the Henshaw Hotel in Omaha, once one of Omaha’s finest eating places which catered to the better class of patrons, government officials and more important people. He became head waiter at the Henshaw.

While there, he became acquainted with a number of Blair men who frequented the Henshaw and the late Chris Schmidt, brother of Blair’s C. J. Schmidt and the late Asa Dixon, father of G. L. Dixon got to know him well.

Then came the time when some of the local political figures wanted to serve a dinner extraordinary for some of the state’s political bigwigs and none other than Henshaw’s Bill Moore seemed to be capable of doing the job.

So Bill took leave of his work at the Henshaw, came to Blair, served the dinner and liked the town so well he just stayed.

Through the years he served as custodian for the old State Bank, the Castefler Bank, the Farmers State Bank, the O’Hanlon Law offices and numerous other places. Bill liked the slower pace of Blair rather than the city and his work appealed to him. There was more time for fishing, too, a pastime of which he never tired and one at which he became an expert.

Bill developed a liking for cigars and the story goes that he used to slip out some of the good cigars used by the late Clark O’Hanlon. Mr. O’Hanlon always kept a box in reserve on the top of his desk. Noting that they seemed to be used up more quickly than normal, Mr. O’Hanlon is said to have remarked to Bill one day, that “something seems to be happening to my cigars.” Whereupon Bill, with the characteristic twinkle in his eye replied, “Well, Suh, I just can’t understand that. No body uses them except you and I.”

In his spare time Bill used to operate a shoe shine stand in the Nemetz barbershop which was in the basement of the Mathiesen building and many a young swain got to depend upon Bill for that mirror-like shine which would be the last touch toward becoming a truly well-groomed man.

On occasions for dressing up, Bill liked to wear a sailor-type straw hat, a well-starched white shirt, a red tie and a “diamond” stickpin. The stickpin was one of his special joys and he used to maintain that it was worth $2500. Its vale was never certified but the $2500 story had a number of doubters.

Bill, as a chef and a fisherman, got to be a standard fixture on local fishing expeditions. Groups of men used to take him with them when they went fishing and during the time many Blairites had cottages at Lake Okoboji. Bill used to often go along as chef. All the youngsters like him and he liked them and he became their companion and teacher on fishing trips.

In later years Bill dropped most of his custodial duties, but his fishing kept right on at full pace. He fished much of the time at the Fremont lakes and the late Charlie Robinson became a frequent fishing companion.

Age eventually slowed his pace and in recent years Bill’s fishing trips and appearances on Blair’s main street have become less and less frequent. He lived with his wife in a small house just east of Blair’s library and this place will continue to be the home of his wife, Essie, who survives him. The couple had no children.

Funeral services were held from the Campbell Mortuary Wednesday afternoon and burial was in the Blair cemetery.

Note: Born 10 March 1871; died 4 March 1963; Buried Blk 61 Lot 7 Gr 8. Name William.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~