H. R. 32
(By Delegates Wright and Yeager)



"Memorializing and eulogizing former Delegate Ernest C. Moore of the County of McDowell."
Whereas, Ernest C. Moore, of McDowell County, was born July 12, 1922, and received his education in the public schools of McDowell County.
He was married to Mittie Kellum Moore for fifty-three years, and they had four children: Judy, Douglas, Clifton and Gail. His wife and children all survive him.
Ernest C. Moore served with distinction as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from 1971 through 1978 and from 1981 through 1995. During his tenure, he served as House Chairman of the Joint Committee on Enrolled Bills and the Committee on Industry and Labor, and as a member of the House Committees on Banking and Insurance, Constitutional Revision and the Judiciary.
Delegate Moore was a man of quiet dignity, whose words on the floor of the House of Delegates and in committee meetings were few and well chosen, highly attended and greatly regarded. Members who served with him attest that when Ernie Moore spoke, the House listened. He unintentionally commanded the respect of his fellow Delegates, his fellow workers, his community and his State.
At the time of his resignation in 1995 for reasons of health, Delegate Moore possessed the longest institutional history of any member then serving, having been elected to the House of Delegates before any member then in office.
Ernie Moore was the only black or African-American delegate for most of his tenure in the Legislature, and was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He was a pioneer and role model for all young people, and by his gentle nature fostered positive relationships among all with whom he came in contact.
Delegate Moore was a coal miner and served as Vice President of the United Mine Workers District 29 for seventeen years. He was a persistent champion of labor interests in a State where the labor of its people forms a vital and colorful component of our heritage.
He served his State and his community as president of the Public Defender's Corporation and as a member of the Governor's Coal Commission, the Brothers Club, the Salvation Army Advisory Board, and was a recipient of the 1976 Distinguished Citizens Award from the Mountain State Bar Association, the 1992 Distinguished West Virginian Award, and an award for twenty years of dedicated service to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1993.
The House of Delegates and the people of West Virginia are grateful for the contributions of our friend and respected colleague, and mourn his passing from this life on the twenty- fifth day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven; therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Delegates:
That the House of Delegates hereby celebrates the life and mourns the death of Ernest C. Moore and extends its deepest sympathy to his widow, Mittie Moore, and to his family; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare copies of this resolution for his surviving wife, Mittie Kellum Moore, and for their children.