Billie Joe Terry Moore

Billie Joe Terry Moore, 92, passed away in Fleming Island, Florida, on May 4, 2023.  Joe was born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, to John Avery and Marion Christine Terry. She was gifted with a beautiful soprano voice, singing with glee club, church choirs, stage productions, and Sweet Adelines, competing at the national level. As a Sunday school teacher, she taught children about her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. During high school and college, she marched as a majorette in many New Orleans Mardi Gras parades. After graduating from Copiah-Lincoln Junior College with a degree in Home Economics, she was employed by Mississippi Power and Light. It was during a Panama City Beach vacation with girlfriends from work that she met her future husband, Air Force Lt. Virgil Vance Moore III. Vance and Joe were married for over 68 years and raised three children. When Vance became a Boeing aerospace engineer, she served as President of the Boeing Wives’ Club and accompanied him in travel, from rocket launches at the Cape to the Paris Air Show. They lived in Texas, Florida, Washington State, the Netherlands, and Alabama, where they designed and built their retirement dream home, Fallsong, on a forest waterfall. They enjoyed 25 years there before returning to Florida for their final years.

Joe enjoyed world travel and cruising, but was also happy camping, walking the beach, and being a homemaker. She was a vivacious and fun-loving embodiment of southern hospitality, a gracious hostess. Entertaining showcased some of her many talents: cooking, baking, sewing, gardening, and flower-arranging. She had the unusual ability to cross paths with celebrity: sitting beside Dr. Christian Barnard on an airplane, having coffee beside Omar Sharif in The Hague, sharing a park bench with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and having dinner with Liza Minelli and Burt Reynolds in Rome.  Everyone loved her down-home “Mississippi Magnolia” accent, and she occasionally remarked that she was really from Boston and just practicing to be in a Southern play.  “Do you think I’ll get the part?”

Joe is preceded in death by her parents and brother, Johnnie Myron Terry. She is survived by her beloved 93-year-old spouse, Vance, and three children, V. Vance (Helen) Moore IV of Fleming Island, FL, Terry (Doug) Brenna of Kirkland, WA, and Deborah Elaine of Stuart, FL. She was Granny Joe to eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. She requested her remains be sprinkled on the Panama City beach where she and Vance met. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hibernia Baptist Church, Fleming Island, FL, or St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Memphis, TN.