Being a single mother, Jerri Moore’s family consisted of just her and her son. Her winning personality, however, gave her the innate ability to make friends, resulting in a loving and ever-growing extended family.
“She had an openness to people that went beyond friendship and acquaintances,” said her son, Pete W. Moore of Shaker Heights, Ohio. “She was very gregarious, so we had a lot of extended family in all areas of Atlanta.”
Jerri Barnes Moore of Buckhead died March 18 of congestive heart failure at Hospice Atlanta Center. She was 74.
Her funeral is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta. H.M Patterson & Son Funeral Home, Oglethorpe Hill Chapel, was in charge of cremation arrangements.
Moore worked a series of part-time jobs — from the movie theater business to restaurants — for years before becoming vice president of human resources at J. Walter Thompson Advertising in the early 1980s, where she flourished, her son said.
“She had really good social skills and was good at getting people to work together,” he said. “It was just a perfect fit for her personality.”
Moore left the advertising agency in the late 1980s and made her move to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she worked as a contractor before becoming an administrative assistant. She was very hardworking, but it was her affable personality that led to her becoming known as the “life of the office,” said Tina Forrester, acting director of the Division of Community Health Investigations, part of the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
“The first thing she’d do is come in and say, ‘What’s going on?’ or ‘What’s the gossip?’” Forrester said, chuckling. “And she always played pranks on people at work. She was very fun-loving.”
Moore’s outgoing personality went hand in hand with her positive spirit. She was always willing to offer advice, and she served as a mother figure for several of her younger co-workers, even after she retired last year in June, said Joanne Miller, public health adviser of the CDC’s toxic substances agency.
“She was a very wise person with some very helpful advice,” Miller said. “She always put things in perspective, and she had a way of making you feel good even if your situation wasn’t in the best spot.”
Moore had the innate ability to squeeze every bit of enjoyment out of life, said those who knew her, and she liked to spread that enjoyment. Her rare positivity won’t soon be forgotten, said longtime friend Sharon Campolucci.
“She was a great person and will be missed tremendously,” Campolucci said.
In addition to her son, Moore is survived by three grandsons.
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