[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 55 (Tuesday, March 29, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E314-E315]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING INMAN AND NELLIE MOORE

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JUDY CHU

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 29, 2022

  Ms. CHU. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the lives of Reverend 
Inman Moore, who passed away on January 26, 2022, at the age of 96, and 
his wife, Nellie Moore, who passed away on February 6, 2021, at the age 
of 95. Inman and Nellie were stalwarts in the San Gabriel Valley, 
dedicated to leaving their community better than they found it. And 
they did just that.
  Nellie Moore was born in rural Southern Mississippi in 1926 as an 
only child to a single mother after her father died of pneumonia right 
before her birth. Nellie married Inman Moore in 1947, and she dedicated 
herself to being a minister's wife, becoming an active member of the 
church communities that she and her husband joined. After settling in 
Pasadena in 1970 with her husband and children, Nellie served as an 
administrative assistant at the famous Jet Propulsion Laboratory and 
later started and ran two successful businesses in Pasadena alongside 
her husband.
  Inman Moore was born on September 8, 1925, in southern Mississippi. 
While he intended on attending medical school, Inman's plan changed 
following his service in the Navy during World War II. Upon returning 
home, he enrolled in Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi and 
decided to follow in the footsteps of his father, a Methodist minister, 
by receiving a graduate degree in theology from the Candler School of 
Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
  Inman went on to serve in various churches in Mississippi, a 
segregated state, during the rising civil rights movement of the 1960s. 
He was a founding member of the Mississippi Human Relations Council, an 
interracial organization dedicated to improving race relations through 
educational programs. Additionally, while serving as pastor at the 
renowned Leggett Memorial United Methodist Church in Biloxi, 
Mississippi in 1963, Inman was one of 28 Mississippi Methodist 
ministers who signed a ``Born of Conviction'' statement opposing the 
perpetuation of a segregated society.
  Inman, Nellie and their children then relocated to California in 1963 
where Inman became a pastor at the Palmdale United Methodist Church and 
later became a minister at the Crescenta Valley United Methodist in La 
Crescenta. In 1970, Inman retired from the ministry and started two 
successful Pasadena companies with Nellie: Moore Vending and Tournament 
Souvenirs. After nearly 30 years in business, Inman and Nellie sold 
their companies and retired in 1997.
  Years later, when Grace United Methodist--a predominantly Black 
congregation in Altadena, CA--lacked the funding to afford a full-time 
minister, Inman came out of retirement without hesitation to serve as 
their part-time minister for four years. Inman even came out of 
retirement a second time to serve as associate pastor at the First 
United Methodist in

[[Page E315]]

Burbank, California for five years, and served as a guest pastor for 
several other churches throughout the Southern California region. At 
the age of 90, Inman penned his own autobiography, ``On the Road to 
Civil Rights,'' sharing his incredible journey of activism and faith. 
When a need presented itself in the community, Inman was there.
  Inman and Nellie were happily married for 73 years, and are survived 
by their children, Linda, Robert, and David Leon Moore, their 
grandchildren Saul, Marisa, Nate, Sarah, Anna, and Nellie, and four 
great-grandchildren. Inman was known as a force of nature for his 
powerful preaching abilities, his unyielding moral code and his 
commitment to racial justice and civil rights. Nellie will be 
remembered by kindness and humor, and her dedication to her community. 
Inman and Nellie Moore embody what it means to put the needs of others, 
whether that be family, parishioners, or community members, above their 
own. I ask my colleagues to join me in commemorating the lives of these 
two extraordinary individuals.

                          ____________________