Gary K Moore

Gary K. Moore, 84, of Lee’s Summit, MO (formerly of Edmond, OK), passed away after battling cancer on December 28 th , 2025. He was surrounded by family at his home in John Knox Village where he passed peacefully into the arms of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Gary was born on January 1, 1941, in Holton, KS. He was the first child of three from William Hugh and Alma Mae (Bergstrom) Moore. Gary’s mother passed away when he was 8 years old, and his father wed Gary’s elementary school teacher, Betty Lohrengel in 1951. Betty and Gary shared a classroom for two years. Gary welcomed three more beloved siblings from the union of Hugh and Betty.

Gary graduated from East High in Wichita, KS, Class of 1959. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Wichita (now Wichita State University) in 1963. Later in life, Gary went back to school, taking night courses while working full-time to earn a Master of Education degree in counseling psychology from Central State University (now the University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK) in 1980.

After earning his Bachelor’s, Gary was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1963. Before leaving for his first duty station in Nuremberg, Germany, he married the love of his life, Rita I. Calvin on December 29, 1963 in Ulysses, KS. They were married for 62 years. He served three years in Nuremberg, Germany where his first son Greg was born in 1965. Gary was serving a one-year tour in Vietnam when his second son Kelly was born in 1967 in Wichita, KS.

After he returned from Vietnam in 1968, he was ordered to Oakdale, PA for his last duty station and was decommissioned after that posting. He was recommissioned into the Army National Guard in 1975 and transferred into the U.S. Army Reserve in 1976. He completed the Command & General Staff College in 1988 and retired from the military as a Lieutenant Colonel on January 1, 2001. During his service he earned the Bronze Star Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Vietnam Service Medal with four Campaign Stars, and others.

After serving his country, Gary was employed by Montgomery Ward in Denver, CO followed by Macy’s and American Fidelity Assurance Company in Kansas City, MO. He continued his work with American Fidelity Insurance at their headquarters in Oklahoma City, OK. Upon leaving the insurance industry, Gary joined the team at Carpet World in Oklahoma City and subsequently started his own business, Floors by Moore, in 1982. After five years as a small business owner, he transitioned back into the insurance industry, where he was employed by Allstate Insurance Company for 14 years.

Never one for idleness, Gary also spent years working as a commercial real estate broker, provided private security services for various entities, drove charter and school buses, and was a licensed private pilot.

He took groups of high school ROTC cadets on various trips, including driving them to NASA in Houston, TX and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO. Gary also drove a group of Boy Scouts, including his sons, on a memorable camping trip during which they got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere.

A man of many hobbies, interests, and affiliations, Gary was proudly elected to the Edmond City Council in Oklahoma. He served his community as a councilman for eight years, six of which he was Mayor Pro Tempore. He was instrumental in organizing and expanding the Edmond HOPE Center, where he also served on the board of directors. For 40 years, Gary was very active in a civic organization, AMBUCS, where he served as president for a term.

Gary loved to make people laugh, especially Rita’s mother, Mildred. Gary once took his favorite mother-in-law to lunch—at Sam’s Club for their samples! Sometimes MIL would come to visit with her sister, Rita’s Aunt Dorothy, and Gary would drive them to an empty parking lot and drive around in circles until they were both giggling in the backseat.

He was a faithful member and elder of First Presbyterian Church of Edmond, where he served on the Session. Gary developed and directed a campus security team, was a member of the sanctuary choir, and ran the church sound system with his sons. He also served on various other committees too numerous to list. Gary proudly traveled with the church to spread God’s love on a mission trip to San Cosmé, Quintana Roo in Mexico.

As a young child, Gary developed a love for trains. During his college years, he was proud to serve two summers as a fireman with Missouri Pacific Lines. As an adult, he discovered the Oklahoma Railway Museum in Oklahoma City and joined immediately. He was still a member at the time of his death. Gary amassed a myriad of memberships during his lifetime. Among his affiliations were the Chamber of Commerce, City Board of Adjustments, City Board of Appeals, BPOE (Elks) Lodge #2578, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post #5789, and the American Legion Post #0111, all in Edmond, Oklahoma.

When Gary & Rita moved to Lee’s Summit, MO in 2018, he transferred to the Lee’s Summit American Legion Post #018, VFW Post #5789, and Elks Lodge #26 in Kansas City. Additionally, Gary was appointed to the Jackson County Board of Equalization by Bill Baird, the Mayor of Lee’s Summit.

Gary received his restricted radiotelephone (CB) permit from the FCC in 1969. He went on to earn his amateur radio (HAM) license in 2012. Included in his portfolio of memberships were two HAM clubs—the Raytown Amateur Radio Club in Missouri and the Edmond Amateur Radio Society (EARS) in Oklahoma. He was an FCC-licensed HAM operator for 13 years, and his call sign was KB5UKS.

In 1974, Gary went to flight school. He earned his FAA license as a private pilot and was qualified to fly single-engine aircraft. As captain, he once flew with Rita from Kansas City to Manhattan, KS to have lunch with her sister and brother-in-law. Another time, he flew a two-seater Cessna, his two young sons packed in the passenger seat, to look down at the Christmas lights decorating Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza. Though he never flew with the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), he was a senior member of the United States Air Force Auxiliary, and as a lieutenant colonel, was the deputy commander of the MO Wing CAP squadron in Lee’s Summit, MO.

At the time of his passing, Gary was a member of the board for Village Church in Lee’s Summit where he was also active in church activities and committees. He was often known to “work the crowd” prior to church services, greeting friends and making friends out of strangers.

Travel was a lifelong passion for Gary. When living in Germany during the Cold War, he and Rita took the troop train from Nuremberg to West Berlin, during which, Gary was mandated to remain in uniform with his hat on. They went through Checkpoint Charlie and toured as much of East Berlin as was allowed. Gary was required to stay on the bus the entire time, and Rita refused to get off the bus without him.

Not long after Greg was born, Gary’s parents made the trip to Germany to meet their first grandchild. During that visit, they drove his parents to Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, France, the Netherlands, and back to Germany—all four adults, one infant, and all their luggage crammed into a bright red Volkswagen bug. In their third year of marriage, Gary and Rita took that same VW bug from Germany to Italy, driving it onto a train to tunnel through the Alps.

While serving in Vietnam, he was able to visit Singapore during R&R. Among his most memorable adventures were an Alaskan cruise, visiting the U.K. with friends, a trip to Spain, several visits to Hawaii, and a family excursion to Germany with a cruise down the Danube River to Budapest, Hungary. Gary and Rita marked their 50 th wedding anniversary with a celebratory cruise on the Panama Canal in Central America. Closer to home, he enjoyed seeing the Midwest by way of a Mississippi River cruise from Minneapolis to St. Louis.

Gary explored Canada by train with Rocky Mountaineer Railtours on a journey from Vancouver to Banff with friends. Another trip among his favorites was the time he and Rita drove from Edmond to Denver, flew from Denver to Seattle, and then took Amtrak from Washington state back to Denver. One time, upon hearing about a 2-for-1 sale on airfare to Orlando, FL, Gary spontaneously purchased four tickets, surprised the family, and took the boys out of school for a family pleasure trip to Disney World. He visited Mexico several times, including cruises with friends and a family vacation for spring break.

Gary was predeceased by his parents, a sister, Mary Ann, and stepmother Betty I. Moore. Surviving, in addition to his wife, Rita, are his two sons, Gregory K. Moore (Jody) of Lee’s Summit, MO and Kelly W. Moore (Leslie) of Augusta, KS; four grandchildren, Joshua Chosa of Wichita, KS, Katelyn Moore (Jamie) of Augusta, KS, Todd Ponder (Mandy) of Kansas City, MO, and Sergeant Ryan Aikens (Melissa) of Fairbanks, AK; two sisters, Nita Hinshaw (Randy) of Plano, TX and Alisa “Kay” Hake (Lynn) of Dallas, TX; three brothers, Bill Moore (Mae) of Wells, KS, Barry Moore (Gale) of Eagle River, AK, and Ronn Moore (Lisa) of Lexington, TX; two great-grandchildren, seven nieces and nephews, and too many cousins to count.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 1:00 p.m., Friday, January 16 at Village Church, John Knox Village Courtyard Community Center A & B, 508 NW Murray Rd. in Lee’s Summit, MO. Inurnment will occur on a later date in Edmond, OK.

Inurnment with military honors will precede the service at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, January 31 at Gracelawn Cemetery, 1407 North Boulevard, Edmond, OK. A Celebration of Life will follow at 1:00 p.m. and take place at First Presbyterian Church of Edmond, 1001 S Rankin St.

Memorial gifts may be made to MO Wing CAP, 7300 Ash Ave., Raytown, MO, 64133 or HOPE Center of Edmond, 1251 North Broadway, Suite A, Edmond, OK, 73034. Arrangements made by Langsford Funeral Home, 115 SW 3 rd St., Lee’s Summit, MO, 64063, and Matthews Funeral Home, 601 S Kelly Ave., Edmond, OK, 73003.