Constance Cook Moore, a native of Princeton, died January 16 at home in Philadelphia after a short illness. She was 92.
She devoted her long life to art, to serving her community, to the Episcopal Church, and to her family and her friends. She was an artist who depicted the world around her in sepia pen-and-ink drawings, and a mother who found constant joy in her family. She loved Cezanne, Puccini, and dressing up for costume parties; she was creative in endless ways from excellent cooking to elaborate and funny handmade birthday cards. She traveled from Morocco to Turkey to Cuba and every year her Christmas card was a drawing of a scene from her adventures.
Throughout her life she believed her own blessings meant she had a responsibility to help others, and doing so is where she found meaning.
Born in Philadelphia and raised in Princeton, N.J., she was the daughter of George R. Cook III and Margaretta Roebling Cook of Princeton and Naples, Fla., and a descendant of John A. Roebling, designer of the Brooklyn Bridge. She graduated from Garrison Forest School in Baltimore, Md., and made her debut at the Present Day Club in 1950. Defying her parents’ wish that she go to Katie Gibbs secretarial school, she graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Barnes Foundation, where she studied with Violette de Mazia.
She was the widow of Norman C. Moore, Dean of Students at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where she raised her family. There, she acted and created costumes at the college theater, hosted a show on local access TV, and taught classes in parenting skills to women struggling with domestic violence. She picketed George Wallace while pushing a stroller, supported Eugene McCarthy, and boycotted nonunion grapes. She served on the vestry of St. John’s Episcopal Church and in 1977 was present at the first ordination of a female Episcopal priest.
In Philadelphia, where she moved in 1981, she was deeply involved in her Center City neighborhood. A progressive Democrat, she worked at her local polling place every November. At her antiques-filled trinity on Camac Street, she hosted a New Year’s Day party as lengthy as the Mummers Parade. As president of Friends of Louis I. Kahn Park, she helped lead the park’s renovation from concrete beach to flower-filled retreat. She was on the board of the Washington Square West Civic Association and a member of the Diva Committee for the Opera Company of Philadelphia. She served on the board of directors of Associated Services For the Blind (ASB) for more than 15 years and was a full-time volunteer at Radio Information Center for the Blind, recording newspapers for visually impaired listeners. For her service, she received ASB’s Louis Braille Award in 2011.
During her 40 years as a parishioner at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, where she will be buried in the historic churchyard, she served on the vestry, as a lay reader, and as rector’s warden.
Her husband died in 2002. She is survived by her children Allison (Allan Ells) of Swarthmore, Martha (Kent Gibbons) of New York, Charles (Susan Finch Moore) of Wilson, Wyo., and Patrick (Sandra Jerez) of Seattle, and grandchildren Margot, Charlotte, Adrian, Nate, Katie, Eva, Alexander, and Theo.
A funeral service will be held at St. Peter’s Church, 313 Pine Street, on Saturday, February 8 at 11:30 a.m. Memorial donations may be made to ASB, 919 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107 or The Friends of Louis I. Kahn Park, P.O. Box 1830, Philadelphia, PA 19105-1830.
