SSA Life Member Robert Lee (Bob) Moore died January 21, 2006 (age 85) of complications from pneumonia. Bob was a Ph.D. research chemist with many interests and successes. He had a life-long love of gliding and soaring having built and flown a primary glider in the 30’s. He continued soaring into his 80’s. He started a soaring club in Richland, Washington and introduced many people to the sport. He was the 13th American Diamond C (113th internationally) Pilot and was a Director and Vice President of the SSA. He was a charter member of the Columbia Basin Soaring Association, a member of; the Seattle Glider Council, the Self-Launching Sailplane Pilots Association, the Vintage Sailplane Association, and several other flying organizations. In 2001 he was inducted into the United States Soaring Hall of Fame. Bob owned quite a series of gliders in his career. The list includes SGC2-22, TG-3, Bowlus, LK-10A, SGC 1-21, Phoebus, Nelson Hummingbird, Pik 20E (Contest Number BM), and a DG-505. The Hummingbird he donated to a soaring museum and the languishing SGC-1-21 was refurbished by Dr. Walter Cannon and is still flying.

Bob has made generous bequests to local colleges in Washington and donated the funds for a telescope/observatory in Pasco in keeping with another of his interests, astronomy. Bob was a safe, cerebral pilot/instructor, modest about his abilities, but very helpful to others. He was the first to fly across the Cascades in a glider, and to fly into Montana from Wenatchee, Washington.

Many of us owe to Bob the opportunity to learn about and do soaring. To us beneficiaries this gift looms as perhaps the greatest legacy of Bob Moore. He probably would have liked nothing better than; that those who remember him (or don’t), pass on to others the wonders and pleasures of soaring flight.