UW's Terry Moore shared music, his time with others

Nearly 50 years ago, John T. "Terry" Moore was giving his music-professor colleague Vilem Sokol a ride back from Santa Barbara, Calif., in his little Cessna aircraft.

A huge thunderstorm hit, with sheets of lightning and enough turbulence to make the plane bounce around "like a straw in the sky," as Sokol remembers it.

"Are you nervous?" the unflappable Mr. Moore calmly asked.

"No!" said Sokol, crossing his fingers.

Mr. Moore, who died early Monday at 88 from complications after a stroke, always was courageous under fire.

This trait served him well during his long tenure as director of the University of Washington School of Music, when he faced a hostile mob in the early 1970s, an era of student rioting, by inviting the students into the faculty lounge for some straight talk.

"Terry always said that when things got tough he just got in his airplane and 'bored holes in the sky,' " remembered Mr. Moore's wife, Nancy Moore.

A pianist and lifelong teacher, Mr. Moore is remembered by his UW colleagues as a warm-hearted and generous man of principle who always gave a little extra. Lessons always lasted a little longer; sometimes, in cases of financial need or friendship, they were free.

"When I came here in 1993," remembered faculty pianist Craig Sheppard, "Terry and Nancy opened their house and their hearts to me. I would often go there to try out my concerts, and they always had a wonderful admixture of interested friends, many of whom have continued to support me to this day.

"This kind of generosity and the feelings it has engendered in me cannot be overestimated. I came here knowing nobody, and felt instantly welcome."

Mr. Moore himself first came to the UW in 1948, along with Sokol and James Beale; it was Mr. Moore who brought to the campus such eminent pianists and teachers as Bela Siki and Neal O'Doan.

Born in Dronfield, England, in 1916, Mr. Moore moved to Detroit with his family at 14. He earned a master's degree at the University of Illinois; his first university position was at the University of the Pacific in Stockton in l946, after spending the war years as a flight instructor in Douglas, Ariz.

"He loved teaching at the UW so much that he would probably still be there" if it weren't for mandatory retirement, said Nancy Moore, also a pianist and a regular fixture with her husband in Meany Theater concert audiences. "He was a gentleman, always, totally sincere, and a wonderful man I will miss very much."

Active right up to the end of his long life, with lessons scheduled beyond this week, Mr. Moore taught pianist Lynn Kidder for the past year.

"We were due for another lesson next Monday," said Kidder, "and his focus and ear were as sharp as ever. Learning from him this past year has been a rare privilege. He raised my level of playing way past what I long ago gave up dreaming for. I will miss him. Such a fine man."

Mr. Moore's retirement years included many trips to England to visit relatives, and camping on the South Island of New Zealand for a month.

Besides his wife, he is survived by two sons, Mike, of Wenatchee, and David, of Anchorage, Alaska.

"But he really regarded his students as his family as well," his wife said.

There will be no services. The family asks that remembrances be sent to the UW's School of Music for piano scholarships in Terry Moore's name.