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Bill Moore, lifelong advocate for Fletcher, dies at age 75

Bill Moore, shown in a 2017 file photo, died Tuesday, June 16, 2020. A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Patty's Chapel Cemetery, Patty's Chapel Road.

By Lightning Reports, Published: June 18, 2020

FLETCHER — William B. "Bill" Moore, who served the town of Fletcher for 22 years as a council member and mayor, died Tuesday at Mission Hospital. He was 75.

A lifelong resident of Fletcher, Moore was the first chair of the town's Parks & Recreation Commission, a leadership role that would start more than 20 years of advocacy for Fletcher Community Park, which the council renamed Bill Moore Community Park after he lost his bid for a fifth term as mayor in 2017.

Moore served on the council member for four years, from 1996 until 2000, when the board appointed him to replace Mayor Robert Parrish, who died on July 12, 2000, of cancer. He won election to the job in 2001 and won re-election three more times.

During his tenure, Fletcher opened its new town hall, Ingles built a big grocery store on U.S. 25, Pardee-Mission built a medical campus on the county line and the council continued to make improvements to the park. Good humored and conversational, as barbers often are, Moore was a happy advocate for the town of Fletcher, pushing for growth, opportunites for young people and a redesign of the town's main drag on U.S. 25.

“I had good people around me,” Moore told the Lightning last year for a feature on the town's 30th birthday. “We didn’t really have an agenda. We had a vision and the community park was part of that vision.”

A native of Fletcher, he was the devoted husband of Geneva (Moss) Moore of Fletcher, and the son of the late Leonard and Ann (Pressley) Moore.

Outside of his service to the Town of Fletcher, Moore was a licensed barber and co-owner of Service Barber Shop in Fletcher. After his hair-cutting career, he sold cars at the Fletcher Motor Company for more than 30 years.

A lover of people, Moore made friends everywhere he went, often running into old acquaintances many miles away during his travels. A one-time baseball player, he was a devoted sports fan who took joy in mentoring young people as a coach and, later, cheering on his grandchildren as they played sports.

In addition to his beloved wife of 55 years, Moore is survived by a daughter, Sherry Higgins of Arden; a son, Keith Moore (Kelly) of Lexington, S.C.; grandchildren Tyler and Nathaniel Higgins, Chandler Frick and Brayden Moore; brothers Wallace (Joyce) and Gary (Sheila) Moore; and sisters Doris Hawkins (Grady), Deloris Wright (Harold), and Nancy Johnston (Billy); and a number of nieces, nephews and cousins.

Moore will lie in state starting at noon on Thursday through 10 a.m., Friday at Groce Funeral Home in Arden. At 10:15 a.m. on Friday, Mr. Moore will be taken to Patty’s Chapel Cemetery, on Patty’s Chapel Road in Fletcher. A graveside service will be performed at 11 a.m. and the public is invited to attend. (Face coverings are encouraged at the cemetery and required at the funeral home.)