Lucia was born November 19, 1926 in Garden City, Missouri, the daughter of Earl and Lucia Minerva (Redfield) Moore. She was a 1944 graduate of Garden City High School and eloped with Cecil Ford Orr on July 7, 1946. Their secret wasn’t revealed until a letter to Mrs. Cecil Orr arrived. Together they had two sons, Roger Earl and Stephen Ford.
She attended Southwest Baptist College and Central Missouri State University, graduating with a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Classroom Education. Beginning in 1945, she taught in many one-room country schools in the area as well as more traditional schools for a total of 36 ½ years before her retirement in 1988. Over the years many students went “to school to her” and she held fondness for each one. She taught at La Tour school, Conley Country Schoolhouse, Garden City Elementary (2nd grade and had Roger in class), Houston Country Schoolhouse where she taught both her sons, Number 9 Country Schoolhouse, and Raymore-Peculiar Elementary school in Peculiar (6th grade English).
At an early age, Lucia put her trust in Jesus. She served as Music Director at Garden City Baptist for a number of years. She also sang solos and in quartets for funerals and weddings as part of her service to the Lord. She was a member of Faith Baptist Church in Harrisonville. In later years, her church family was Sycamore Grove Mennonite Church in Garden City.
Family, both present and past, were so important to Lucia. She was always telling a story about a family member dear to her heart. The memories of her daddy, mama, and Grammie brought her comfort in the final years. She loved her three sisters and held a special bond with each of them, although they lived all over the country. Alongside Cecil, she worked hard on the family farm having cattle, laying hens, hogs, and a garden. If you weren’t sure how she felt about being a mom, grandma, and great-grandma, she was not afraid to pull out some photos or tell a story bragging on her sweethearts.
Upon retirement, studying genealogy became of increasing interest and dedication to her. She traced several family lines back to Adam and filled binder upon binder with linages and personal stories of her ancestors. She enjoyed taking trips to Salt Lake City and researching in their genealogical library and then visiting the gravesites of the relatives she discovered. As the third daughter, she was the one bestowed the family name of “Lucia Minerva”. Her mother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother also carried that name.
Two of Lucia’s ancestor stories of note are of Priscilla Mullins (Mollineau) and John Alden of Plymouth, Mass., who were passengers on the Mayflower. The other is an ancestor who joined the LDS church and traveled from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City in the fall of 1848.
Lucia belonged to several genealogically based organizations: Charter Member and Ex-Regent of the Mary Sibley Chapter of the Daughters of the America Revolution (1969), Daughters of 1812, Daughters of American Colonists, Mayflower Society, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers (1985), National Society Women Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company (1970), and the Cass County Genealogical Society.
Lucia loved to talk and could be quite the social butterfly, occasionally running late, but always flitting from one friend to the next everywhere she went. She was a 50 year+ member and former Worthy Matron of the Order of the Eastern Star. She was active in the Missouri Retired Teachers Association. Several times a week, she would line dance (and fellowship over coffee and sweets) with her line dancing girls. She’d meet regularly with some of her retired teacher girls. Then there were the girls she’d go with to shop or play cards.
Lucia was preceded in death by her parents, husband, Cecil, son, Stephen, sisters, Edna Rudisaile, Elsie Kelly, and Mary Ann Bracegirdle. She is survived by one son, Roger Orr and wife, Janet, Garden City, Missouri; three grandchildren, Elisa Couch and husband, Joey, Pleasant Hill, Missouri, Nathaniel Orr, Memphis, Missouri, and Makenzie Robison and husband, Talin, Bluffdale, Utah; two great-grandchildren, Ruthanna and Miriam Couch, and many nieces and nephews.
