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Memorial service planned for former Lacombe MLA Ronald Moore

Former three-term MLA for Lacombe and successful businessman Ronald Moore will be remembered at a service in the town Thursday.

Former three-term MLA for Lacombe and successful businessman Ronald Moore will be remembered at a service in the town Thursday.

Moore, who represented the community in the Alberta Legislature from 1982 to 1993, died Jan. 9 in Calgary after a lengthy battle with heart problems.

He was born in 1925 in Delia, Alberta and was raised on a farm during the Depression. One of five children, Moore graduated from high school and enlisted in the navy during the Second World War in 1941. He served as a radar rating on the destroyer HMCS Huron for five years.

After the war, he attended business college and went into the grocery business. He married his wife Esther (now deceased) in 1949 and the couple had three children.

They moved to Lacombe in 1955, where Moore ran an IGA store until 1966 when he joined Westfair Foods. He later took a job with the Alberta government in Co-operative Affairs.

He then decided to throw his hat into the political ring and ran for the Progressive Conservatives in the then-Lacombe riding, winning a landslide victory, the first of three convincing election wins.

Towards the end of his political career Moore played a key role in delivering rural support for Ralph Klein, in his campaign to win the party leadership over rival Nancy Betkowski.

After retiring from politics, Moore wrote a political column for a number of weekly newspapers and remained involved in the periphery of politics.

Moore played a key role in the Veterans Millennium 2000 Project, which saw a row of trees planted in Lacombe to represent veterans and adorned with plaques listing veterans’ names, ranks, military unit and the war in which they served. The row of about 120 blue spruce trees on 50th Street is called the Boulevard of Honour.

Moore was also active in the Royal Canadian Legion, and during his younger years, youth sports.

Lacombe Mayor Judy Gordon said Moore was very community minded and really enjoyed his years as an MLA.

“He worked very hard on behalf of the community of Lacombe.”

When Moore decided to leave politics, he encouraged Gordon, who was then mayor of Lacombe, to pursue the nomination and run. She did and was elected MLA in 1993 for the first of three terms.

“He was instrumental in my running,” said Gordon. “I was always grateful for that.”

Moore moved to Calgary several years ago and had been suffering ill health for some time, she said.

A celebration of Moore’s life is set for 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Lacombe Memorial Centre.