Shirley Grace Moore, aged 91, one of the seminal leaders in the education of young children and long-time professor in the Institute of Child Development (ICD), passed away over the weekend. Her legacy of excellence will be maintained in ICD and has already made its mark in the Shirley G. Moore Lab School, which was named to honor her upon retirement in 1987.
Moore was known for her wit, wisdom, and scholarship, according ICD director Megan Gunnar.
“Harold Stevenson hired Shirley in the early 1960s to revitalize the preschool program,” said Gunnar. “He wanted a director of the nursery school who ‘knew advanced statistics’… in other words, someone who was not only a gifted educator but an outstanding researcher. That was Shirley, and she made the preschool program a living laboratory showcasing translation of science to practice and the development of new knowledge about children and their development.”
Over the years, Moore contributed to many of the most important science-to-practice endeavors at ICD and abroad. She played a role in training teachers for Project Head Start when it first began and, along with Rich Weinberg, formed the Center for Early Education and Development.
Moore began her career in teaching in the children’s program of the McDowell Settlement House in Chicago during World War II. She attended the University of Chicago and held several positions in addition to the one at the settlement house. From there she moved to the University of Iowa in the early 1950s to become a lead teacher in its laboratory preschool. At the same time she began her graduate training under the guidance of one of the luminaries in the field of early childhood, Ruth Updegraff.
It wasn’t long before Moore moved from a lead teacher to the principal of the Iowa Preschool Laboratories. It was from this position that Harold Stevenson recruited her to the University of Minnesota.
As we mourn her passing, we celebrate all that she contributed to children and families, the Institute of Child Development, the Center for Early Education and Development, the college, and the University.
A memorial service is scheduled for Dec. 19, 2 p.m., at Gearty-Delmore Plymouth Chapel, 15800 37th Avenue North, Minneapolis, with visitation at 1 p.m.
Also see a featured obituary on Moore in the Star Tribune.