She is the Oldest Black Lady in Pacific, and an Icon of Elder Grade and Dignity

By pauline Masson –

One morning a couple of years ago as Emma Moore went to her mail box, a white neighbor aproached her and said, “Maam do you do babysitting?”

 “No,” she said. “I’m not a babysitter.” 

She could hardly believe she heard herself saying it out loud. After raising five chldren, helping to raise 15 grandchildren and (to date) 24 great-granchildren, there has never been a time when Emma and John Moore’s neat bungalow on East Central Street was not filled with children.

He was alone, the neighbor said, caring for his seven-year-old daughter. There was no school for two days and he had no one to keep her.

“I’ll keep her,” Emma said, adding one more small child to the busy household. It came as no surprise to those who know her. The little girl, now a regular among the children in the Moore house, often accompanies the family to church on Sunday.

Emma Jean Jacobs Moore is a fourth-generation member of a prolific Black Pacific family descended from a mythical figure, King Edward Adams, who tutored his offspring to ‘be happy, love work, respect everyone and, most of all, respect yourself.”

I wanted to write about Emma during Black History Month because when it comes to people of other cultures working together, she shows everyone how to do it.

My thirty-year friendship with Emma – I have always known her as Emma, but her relatives continue to refer to her as Emma Jean –  more than any other individual in the commimunity, has helped me grasp the relationships that Blacks and whites in our community take for granted.

I think Emma is happy. I have never seen her without a smile. I’ve never been to her house when she was not surrounded by children and grandchildren.

When her aunt Ella Miller turned 100, Emma contacted relaives to come to a brithday celebration, attracting the largest crowd that was ever assembled at Pacific Care Center.

I know she loves her work, which has been to serve as first lady of Pacific Temple, C.O.G.I.C, the tiny church at 112 E Bellevue Street, where her husband John has served as pastor for the past eighteen years. And, along with John, to enhance the lives of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Like King Adams, she has been both supporter and tutor. I once saw her walk into the grocery store with two boys, who appeared to be about ten years old.

“Hands in your pockets,” she said in her low, whispery voice. “Touch nothing and be still.”

Her respect for others has played out each time she was asked to serve on a civic committee. Emma knew that she had something to offer to the city historical society, the city cemetery committee and the Meramec Valley R-III history committee. In each case she contributed the history that she has preserved of the Black community to be included in the greater history of Pacific.

When I told her recently that someone wanted the City to place a marker at the location of her former elementary school, the B.F. Allen School for Colored Children that once stood at the corner of Fourth and West Osage streets, she said she would help.

She pulled out her graduation certificate from the school. When I showed her an unndated photo of the school, her eyes, like a small child looking for a treasure, scanned over the crowd of 43 students surrounding the teacher, and picked out her Uncle Udell Adams near the rear of the students.

“A lot of children attended that school,” she said. “It should be remembered.”

Emma and John Moore met at B.F. Allen School in the second grade in about 1948. They graduated fromt the eighth grade there at the time when schools were being integrated and attended Pacific High School. They’ve been married for 62 years.

As to respecting herself, Emma is an icon of grace and dignity. Her great-grandfather, King Adams – who always wore a suit and tie when he was not working – would love the way she presents herself. When she attended her cousin Marie Adams’ funeral service and repast a year ago last October, I couldn’t resist telling her that she looked like a movie star.

She laughed at that notion. Now at age 82, sees herself as an elderly lady intent on doing what is right.

“I’m the oldest Black lady in Pacific,” she laughed. “And John is the oldest Black man.”

In talking with her relatives about our interview for this article, some members of the Moore family urged her to avoid sugar coating her present status as the matriarch of Black and white mutual regard that exists in Pacific today.

“Grandma, this is Black History Month,” one grand-daughter said. “To be true to history you have to offer a glimpse of what it was like growing up here.”

“Things were different when I was a child,” Emma said. “We couldn’t go to the movies at the Royal Theater. We couldn’t eat in a local restaurant. We had to pick up our food at a rear window.

“In our family we had the tragedy when John ran for the board of alderman. Our house was burned to the ground. They inspected it and said the fire was caused by an electrical mishap but we knew it set on purpose.

“It did happen and we don’t truly forget it. But I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it anymore” Emma said. “The Bible says ‘judge not.’ Most of the people involved in that are in the grave now and our life is comfortable and good.

“We can go anywhere we want to go, eat in any restaurant, shop in any store and be treated like everybody else,” she said. “When life is good you have to be grateful for that.

“People do comment on how long I’ve been around. They say they think I’m in good shape and ask how I keep going, taking care of all those kids. But my answer is simple,” she said. “God is not finished with me yet. He’s leaving me here for reason, to help raise my great-grandchildren, and any other little children that need care. 

“I still take care of my own house, still drive and shop. I will do it all as long as I‘m able,” she said. “I’ve been blessed.”