May Hope McClurkin Moose ’28 grew up in Conway on the campus of Hendrix College where her father was the Business Manager. She graduated Hendrix, with honors, at age 19 and taught two years in Almyra. She and Charles Reid Moose, whom she met at Hendrix, married in 1930.
She returned to the classroom in 1955, teaching Latin and English (although her college major was Chemistry and Biology). In 1963 she was named Arkansas’ “Teacher of the Year.” Her last several years of formal teaching were as a freshman English professor at the University of Central Arkansas.
“Mother was notorious for her teaching skills and her insistence on oral and written correctness,” her son, Rev. David Nelson Moose ’63 recalls, “When she found errors in my church newsletters, she would circle them in red ink, returning them to me - in love, of course! And more than one Morrilton pastor has stopped in the middle of a sermon to look at her for a nod of approval on the grammar just used.”
Miss May Hope was a consistent supporter of the College and attended events on campus regularly. She was widowed in 1984 but maintained her independence and community service until three years ago.
“Even when she could not even feed herself, her mind remained sharp and, up until last month, could still converse with friends and family and quote, by memory, the entire Prologue to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales … in Old English!” David Moose says.
May Hope Moose died in her home in Morrilton on May 12. Her 100th birthday would have been next November 20. “She will be greatly missed, ,” David Moose says, “Through her, God has blessed us with more and for longer than we expected or deserved!”