Lydia Hazel Moore passed peacefully, surrounded by her family on January 10, 2025, in Wayne, at the age of 91 years 9 months 10 days. A celebration of life service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday, …
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Lydia Hazel Moore passed peacefully, surrounded by her family on January 10, 2025, in Wayne, at the age of 91 years 9 months 10 days. A celebration of life service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday, January 23, 2025, at The Grand Canadian Theater, 116 West Main Street, Purcell. Doors will open at 10 a.m. so come early to visit with family and friends.
Lydia was born March 31, 1933, in St. Charles, Iowa on the family farm. She was born unceremoniously early during a snowstorm and was delivered by her beloved grandfather, John (Buddy) Hickey before the doctor arrived.
Her parents Percy and Hazel (Hickey) Moore were involved in the circus, wild west show and rodeo industries. That love of rodeo she gained from her childhood carried throughout her life. Lydia was raised in Missouri and was an avid barrel racer. She was instrumental in forming the Missouri Girls Rodeo Association.
Lydia and her family; sister, Percyna Moore, mother, Hazel Moore,and daughter, Linda (Moore) Clark all moved to Oklahoma in 1967 where she immediately became part of the fabric of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association working in the press room of the National Finals Rodeo and spearheading awards for the ladies who qualified in the barrel racing.
She went on to become a national director in the Girls Rodeo Association, now the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association and became the executive secretary of the WPRA in 1973, a job she would hold until 1995, when the national office moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado. Lydia was a gold card member of the PRCA and WPRA and was an accomplished rodeo secretary and timekeeper working for many stock contractors, most notably the Beutler Rodeo family and Jim Shoulders, both from Oklahoma.
A few of the many accolades Lydia received were the coveted Coca-Cola Woman of the Year in the WPRA in 1991, induction into the Rodeo Historical Society at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 2019, as well as the Living Legends of the Prairie Circuit in PRCA/WPRA in 2022.
Lydia loved life, work and most importantly, her family. Working kept her mind sharp, and she was employed in the towns of Wayne and Paoli in the water departments. Her last and most enjoyable job was working at Starchy’s & Hazel’s, a family-owned dry cleaners and retail clothing store in Purcell.
She lived 91 wonderful years and was loved every day by her family, daughter, Linda Clark and husband, Doug, of Wayne; granddaughter, Darcy Good and husband, Billy, and precious great-grandson, Sonny Mack Good, all of Wynnewood.