Walter Harold Moore

Walter Harold Moore

• FamilySearch Family Tree
• Birth: Oct 2 1894 - Pescadero, San Mateo, California, United States
• Death: Aug 24 1977 - San Mateo, California, United States
• Parents: Walter Henry Moore & Frances Honora Cuff
• Wife: Florence Almira “Mira” Williamson

Children

1. Walter Ellsworth Moore
2. Gordon Earle Moore
3. Francis Allen Moore

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Obituary

References

• The San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, California · Friday, August 26, 1977 < newspapers.com >
• Moore's law : the life of Gordon Moore, Silicon Valley's quiet revolutionary by Thackray, Arnold, 1939- (Publication date 2015) < Archive.Org >
  • Page 24 As all parents eventually discover, they unwittingly bequeath to their chil- dren far more than a set of genes. In their earliest years, infants absorb cul- tural signals—most especially from parents—that deeply influence their manner of being in the world. Walter Harold, Gordon's father, sent clear if unstated messages about how to be a man. His experiences in adolescence and young adulthood had confirmed and sealed his own beliefs. The awful experience of watching his middle-aged father die from cancer could hardly be acknowledged, since he was required to remain strong for his mother and sisters, leave school, and roam to find work. He then faced death di- rectly, repeatedly going “over the top” in wartime France. How little he chose to share these experiences with Mira and his family may be glimpsed in a much later comment of Gordon's: “My father was in the middle of the action. Nine months was a long time, at the front. He didn’t speak of it much. I didn’t realize that the war was such an important experience for him.” In very different circumstances, Gordon would be equally laconic in describing to his own sons the daily battles and triumphs of his life in busi- ness. Moore men were stoic—Nuff said!”
  • Page 396. After the death of Gordon’s mother, Mira, Walter Harold continued living on Westgate Street, Redwood City. In early retirement he visited with friends, attended rodeos, and went rock fishing or hunting with his sons. Then in his early eighties he began to go deaf and became isolated. Hunt- ing had long been a Moore tradition, but Walter Harold, increasingly frail, could no longer join in.
  • Page 396. With Mira gone, Gordon busy, and his grandsons grown, Walter Harold watched TV and chain-smoked cigars to while away the long eve- nings. Betty, finding herself the caregiver on both sides of the family, “had him down to dinner quite often because he was alone.” Walt Jr., his eldest son, living nearby, was of a solitary temperament and ill-equipped to offer solace. “You couldn’t have a great conversation with Walt,” says Betty. “He was not going to be forthcoming with much.” Hardy, pio- neering stock simply did not expect to reach out. The Moore men shared a stoic, determined reserve. In Gordon these qualities nourished Intel’s enduring focus. In Walter Harold, lacking a supportive social context, they became pathological. His attachment to mother, sister, and wife had helped him to withstand searing early losses. Later, the autonomy, root- edness, reserve, and habit that characterized his life (much as they did Gordon’s) steadied him, but in the 1970s he came undone after suffering a series of losses, including the deaths not only of his wife but also of his sister, Louise.