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  • Stacy Jo Rigdon Moore

    Stacy Jo Rigdon Moore
July 6, 2012

Moore had heart for others

Woman’s choice to be organ donor revealed after accident

Toni Hopper The Duncan Banner

DUNCAN — Stacy Moore’s family knew she wanted to always put them first. They also knew she believed in helping others. What they didn’t realize until Saturday, was how much helping others meant to her.

Moore, 42, and her husband, Robert, 51, were involved in a motorcycle crash Saturday in Kiowa County. Both were quickly air evacuated from the scene and she was put on life support. Stacy died Monday and her funeral has been set for 10 a.m. Saturday.

As family members were called and began gathering at the hospital, along with many friends from the Freedom Biker Church, it was discovered that Stacy had denoted on her driver’s license to be an organ donor.

“Her daughter, Mollee, who is 16, said her mother would want to help as many people as she could,” said Stacy’s mother, Marge Rigdon.

Rigdon said that when the medical personnel first asked the family about the possibility of being a donor, they were unsure, but Molly was the one who spoke up. Upon learning that Stacy had already made that decision, and hearing her daughter talk about how she’d want to help others, Rigdon said even the doctor was choked up over the thought of it.

“She wanted to help anyone she could,” Rigdon said.

Moore and her husband both grew up in Duncan and when she wasn’t working, she dedicated her time to being a wife and mom.

“She worked for doctors some over the years. She also took care of me,” Rigdon shared. “She was working until about two weeks ago, at a check cashing place. I think she lost a lot of jobs because she always put her family first.”

And Stacy, who stayed busy as a mom to two children, two stepsons and a grandson, wanted a family portrait. On the Friday night before the crash, her cousin, Whitney Broussard, set up the portrait session.

“Her family is just so important to her, and she really wanted to get a picture of the whole family,” Broussard said. “She was also so proud of her parents being married for 56 years. Their anniversary was actually Friday so she really wanted them to have good pictures.”

The family portrait was posted on their Facebook pages.

“Stacy loved her children and Robert’s children all the same and was so proud of Eli, her grandson,” Broussard said.

“That portrait is something so special,” Rigdon said Thursday.

Moore’s love for people was evident even as a young girl. During her school years, Moore was a candy striper at Duncan Regional Hospital.

“She loved the medical field and working for doctors,” Rigdon said. “She also loved researching family ancestry.”

And she was a big OU fan, her mother said. Rigdon who is actively involved with The Toy Shop, reminisced about Stacy’s indirect involvement with the program.

“You know, she was raised a Methodist, but then she came to me one day and asked how I would feel if she became a Baptist. I didn’t mind, if that’s what she wanted to do. You know, her pastor, Billy Morgan, he grew up across the street from us,” Rigdon said. The Moore’s got involved with Freedom Biker Church which does toy runs each year for Christmas, with the toys benefiting The Toy Shop.

“Someone asked her once if she saved any of her dolls and she told them “my mother would always donate mine,” Rigdon said.

Broussard said Stacy’s death has given many people a chance to fondly share their memories.

“Everybody I have spoken with since her passing has said that she had the best smile and laugh,” she said. “She always put a smile on everyone’s face with her humor and sarcasm. I am so thankful to have seen her Friday and gotten a chance to laugh with her one last time.”

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