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Stooped and forcing his head to look forward, balanced by the cane in his wrinkled hand, Willard Moore moved rather well for a man of 94. His discomfort was disguised by a smile.

“How are you doing, Willard?” friends would ask.

“Just right!” he always replied. He never offered a negative answer, never complained of having difficulty walking, his frequent falls or the pains of old age.

“Willard was positive about life. I never knew him to take a negative attitude about anything,” attorney John Riggs of High Point said.
Moore, who never moved more than a couple of miles from where he was born on a Jamestown farm, died March 18 at High Point Regional Hospital. He was admitted Feb. 23 after breaking a hip in a fall.

Even that mishap didn’t appear to be one that would keep him grounded for long, said his daughter, Jan Carmichael, of Jamestown.
“He was waiting for the next adventure. He lived a good life,” she said.

Moore founded the Yesteryear in Motion fundraising project for Jamestown Lions Club nearly 40 years ago and also restored and operated an antique steam shovel for 41 years at the Threshers Reunion at Denton Farm Park.

He had a few mishaps in his busy life — even broke his other hip 15 years ago — but he always bounced back.
“He woke up in ICU at the hospital one time (several years ago) and asked, 'Am I in the maintenance department?’” said his son Steven Moore of Chapel Hill.

His wife of 70 years, the former Alean Huffman, knew he was always there when she needed him. “He was a man of commitment,” she said. And the commitment wasn’t only to his family; he made his mark with co-workers, those he befriended and in civic and church involvements.

Moore had been working around his farm, driving to church regularly in High Point and tinkering with a variety of things until his accident. He entered the “computer age” in December, finally relenting to learn something that wasn’t an antique. Even got on Facebook.
One recent project that excited him was trying to restore a 1904 Fairmont railroad motorcar engine, one of only four that still exist.

“Willard was unbelievably smart; his mechanical ability was absolutely unreal,” said Bill Sheppard of Thomasville. “He could look at something, figure how to fix it or resolve a problem.” He and Moore had a common interest in airplanes, railroads and unique machines. They also did the same kind of work for many years, both having pipeline-installation companies.

Moore also worked in plant engineering for several years. He was regarded as a super engineer and problem solver, although he never earned a college degree. Both he and his brother, the late Robert Moore, knew a lot about mechanical things long before graduating from Jamestown High School.

The brothers even built their first airplane from a kit they ordered. Alas, Robert crashed it on a trial run. The brothers lived side-by-side and shared a landing strip in their adult years. Willard Moore sold his last airplane three or four years ago, his son Steven said.
“The greatest thing about Willard was his mind. His mind was virtually perfect,” Sheppard said.

The story of Moore quitting his job as an engineer in a plant after it was sold is a part of the Moore legend. “The new owner came in and wanted to know where the guy was that he had seen 'working in the back,’” Sheppard said. Told that Moore had quit, the owner said, “The reason I bought the plant was to get him.” Moore was soon lured back.

Regardless of where he was or what was going on, Moore’s mind was always clicking, figuring out how to solve a mechanical problem or salvage another old engine that others relegated to a junk heap.
“In the late 1950s, Willard was trying to figure out how to build that mythical perpetual-motion machine in the sky,” said longtime friend Roy Kelley of High Point. “I don’t know what happened to that, but Willard was always working on something.”

“Willard was a mechanical genius. He could make anything, especially if it were for his church,” said the Rev. C.W. Moss at Moore’s funeral on March 23.

Brown Loflin, owner of the Denton Farm Park, was equally impressed that Moore could restore a 1916 Erie Steam Shovel that Loflin bought for his annual demonstration of antique machinery at the Threshers Reunion. Not only did Moore restore the machine, he operated it for 40 years at the annual show and taught others to run it, too.

“I’ve never met anybody like Willard Moore,” Loflin said. “He brought a lot of engines back to life. I don’t know anything bad I could say about him. He was very humble and a Christian gentleman and a very, very knowledgeable man. It was always a pleasure to work with him.”

Son Keith Moore of Dacula, Ga., is convinced his father could do about anything he set his mind to do. “Not only did he raise five children, he built the house we lived in with his own hands. Son Phillip Moore lives in Moore, Okla., and another daughter, Carol Brock, and her family, live in High Point,” he said. “He didn’t care about being famous; he just cared about people.”

Yet, Moore was “famous” — at least in these parts.

“A sad thing is that Willard never got to finish (rebuilding) that Fairmont 1904 railroad motor car engine,” said Sheppard, a railroad buff like his friend Moore. “I’ve promised his wife that I’m going to finish that engine. I really want to do that for Willard; he did so much for so many of us.”

Contact Bob Burchette at bburchette@triad.rr.com