Berta Katherine (Hastings) Moir

Berta Katherine Hastings Moir died July 22, 2017. Berta sprung into the world on July 27, 1927, in Belleville, Kansas. She cherished her life on her family's farms in Jewell, Kansas, and in Robinson, Kansas. She credited her life-long success to her experiences growing up in Kansas during the Great Depression and to her one-room school house. Upon receipt of a full scholarship, she attended college at the University of Nebraska. She graduated with a B.S.N. in nursing.

Looking for more challenge and adventure, she traveled on the RMS Queen Mary to meet the love of her life, Thomas Lane Moir. The two were married on September 19, 1949, in Dublin, Ireland, at St. Patrick's Cathedral, by Rev. J.W. Armstrong, who later became the Archbishop of Armagh. They spent a fortnight on their honeymoon at Ardross Castle in Scotland. Ardross Castle was the family home of Mr. Moir's fellow student at Shattuck Military Academy in Faribault, Minnesota, from where they had graduated.

Mr. and Mrs. Moir attended Trinity College Dublin. Mr. Moir obtained his Ph.D., with an emphasis in English Legal History, while Mrs. Moir studied Philosophy. After spending a summer studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, they landed in New York. Always a great believer of the value of intellect and education, Mrs. Moir obtained her Masters Degree in Public Health from Columbia University in New York while Mr. Moir continued a history fellowship. They settled in Mankato, Minnesota, near Mr. Moir's boyhood home in Bloomington, Minnesota. Mr. Moir taught history at Mankato State University until his retirement.

Mrs. Moir launched her career in 1966 in Southern California. She participated in establishing an innovative behavioral modification treatment program at Camarillo State Mental Hospital. Wanting more time with her children, she spent a decade as a public health nurse in Capitola, California.

She returned to the Midwest in the late 1970s to teach nursing in Kenosha, Wisconsin, at Gateway Technical College where she enjoyed sailing on Lake Michigan and hosting many a Chamber Music soirée at her historic, turn of the century home on Library Square. She occasionally shared with guests that the home was the birth place of Orson Wells.

Returning to her roots, she taught at Ft. Hays State University, helping to establish its School of Nursing. She finished her career as a professor at New Mexico State University, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, before retiring in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Upon a diagnosis of Lymphoma, she returned to Kansas to be near her children. She enjoyed many happy years in Topeka, while residing at Aldersgate, unimpeded by the diagnosis. She died peacefully having enjoyed an adventurous, vibrant life. She is survived by three children: Stuart Allan Moir and his spouse Noemi Mollo Machado Moir (Durham, North Carolina); Anne Hastings Moir Pavlish and her spouse, Carey Pavlish (Prescott, Arizona); and Catherine Lane Moir Walberg and her spouse, Keith A. Walberg (Topeka, Kansas); and her four grandchildren: Carolyn A. Moir (Independence, Oregon); Christopher B. Pavlish and his wife, Melissa Pavlish (Dickinson, North Dakota), Stuart A. Moir, II (Las Vegas, Nevada); Alexandra F. Moir (Washington, D.C.); two step-grandsons: Davi Mollo Machado Martins (Piracicaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Guilherme Mollo Machado Martins (Resende, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); and two great-grandchildren, Victor Pavlish and Kyra Pavlish of Dickinson, North Dakota. The family will hold private services at Glenwood Cemetery in Mankato, Minnesota.

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