Mary Moore
Mary Alice Moore, the daughter of Paul and Edith Karber, was born April 30, 1925 in Greene County in their farm house which was located between Paton and Churdan. When Mary was born, she was named Alice May, after her grandmother Alice Armeda Newins, but on her birth certificate she was given the name Mary Alice which she carried through life. As a child Mary liked to read. However, growing up on a farm outside Churdan had many chores including chickens to feed and cows to milk. She attended Churdan Schools while living with Wally and Minnie Ruth. She also liked vacationing in Colorado where she rode horses.
Mary had several jobs. During WWII she worked in a factory in Wichita, Kansas building airplanes for Boeing. She worked as a cook, ran a gas station, was a nurse’s aide, and a medical aid. Her last jobs were working in a nursing home in Gladbrook and then retired from the Veterans Home in Marshalltown.
As an adult one of her favorite times was a trip to the Bahamas, where she did plenty of fishing. Some of her hobbies were quilting, where she spent many hours making quilt blocks to be sewn together for her grandchildren. She also liked mushroom hunting, and was an avid cribbage player participating in several tournaments. She also enjoyed sewing, gardening, planting flowers, reading, and watching westerns. Mary’s favorite foods were fish, shrimp, chocolate turtles, mushrooms and asparagus. She had a very large salt and pepper collection, receiving many of them from her children for Christmas and Mother’s Day gifts. She also had a large souvenir spoon collection and had spoons from all over the world. Whenever anyone went somewhere they would bring her one. One of Mary’s least favorite things were snakes, and there were plenty of them around her house in Grand Junction. She always had a little hoe handy when she went outside. She was a member of the Tama Eagles and the Grand Junction American Legion Auxiliary.
Mary met Charles H. Gunn at a basketball game in Churdan when they were playing Grand Junction. They were married on May 4, 1945. To this union 5 children were born: Alice, Gwendalyn, Bug (Charles W.), Petie (Visille), and Raymond. Charles and Mary divorced and several years later she married Robert Moore. They too were divorced. In retirement, Mary took care of her mother, Edith Conroy, for many years.
Mary was preceded in death by her parents, Paul Karber and Edith Conroy; a daughter, Gwendalyn Hoskinson; 2 brothers: Norman Karber and Eldon Karber; 2 sisters: Darlene Berkenmeier, and Pauline Marshall. She is survived by her 4 children: Alice Jenkins and her husband Marlin of Moore Haven, FL, Bug (Charles W.) Gunn and his wife Sue of Jefferson, Petie (Visille) Kinsey and her husband Denny of Jefferson, and Raymond Gunn of Grand Junction; sister-in-law: Mrs. Eldon (Jean) Karber; 12 grandchildren; 26 great grandchildren; many nieces; nephews; and friends.
Slininger-Rossow Funeral Home
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