Gary Moss had a deep, booming voice that could carry a long way.
“His voice was so deep and strong,” said his wife, Kay (Kraus) Moss. “It helped carry him through anything – choir, speaking in public, on the sidelines at a football game.
“You could always hear Gary.”
Mr. Moss died Feb. 2 at age 67 of pancreatic cancer. He was a longtime teacher and a volunteer with the Hammers of Hope charity.
Mr. Moss, like his wife, grew up off Old Hwy. M in the Imperial area.
“He lived on a chicken farm, and I lived on a dairy farm,” Kay said. “We both knew what it was like to have chores, to be accountable.”
When the two neighbors were students at Herculaneum High School their friendship blossomed into something more.
“He dated me when the Lord was willing and the creek didn’t rise,” Kay said with a laugh. “I lived across the creek from him, and there was no bridge. Many a time I’d hike up the hill in a nice dress and my mud boots, carrying my high heels, to where he could pick me up in the car. I wasn’t about to miss a date with him.”
The two were married while he was attending Central Methodist University in Fayette, and they had a son and a daughter.
Mr. Moss went to work teaching junior high math in Herculaneum.
“I have a wonderful card from one of his students who said she took all the math classes her college offered, and now she’s now a math tutor, all because of his influence.”
The Mosses’ social life often revolved around people from school.
“We met other teachers with children and hung out together,” Kay said. “Every Memorial Day, we’d go to the Bunker Hill Ranch (an MSTA-sponsored resort in southern Missouri) with as many as 30 other couples and their kids.”
When the Dunklin district went to a “contained classroom” system, where a single teacher taught all subjects, Mr. Moss cast his eye elsewhere.
“He found he would have to go back and get more classes, and he didn’t want to teach English anyway; he’d rather concentrate on math,” Kay said.
He took a job at Seckman Junior High, where he coached football and softball as well as teaching.
“He was very logical,” Kay said. “When you’re teaching kids math, you have to get them to understand the logic because it builds upon itself. And he was always fair.”
Fishing also was a big part of Mr. Moss’ life.
“He had enough gear to be a competition fisherman,” Kay said. “He and his friends made trips to Alaska, to Florida, and he became fast fishing buddies with our son-in-law (Alex Schimsa).
“Once he knew he wouldn’t be here for another season, he passed most of his accumulated gear to his grandkids. So now they all have stuff from Papaw’s fun years.”
Mr. Moss’ booming voice came in handy at the Elks Lodge, where he served a term as Exalted Ruler.
“They have this very structured ritual, where the top five or six ranked members participate,” Kay said. “He was good at that. He won the East Central District Ritual Contest in 1989.”
He was a longtime member of St. Luke’s United Church of Christ in Imperial and sang bass in the church choir.
“He was the go-to guy for weddings, funerals, any special services where they needed a singer,” Kay said.
Mr. Moss retired in May of 1998, and that December the Mosses had the first of their three grandchildren.
“He became her primary caregiver for a year or so,” Kay said. “He took care of all three as babies. When they had a doctor appointment, ‘Papaw’ would take them and my daughter would come and meet them on her lunch hour.”
Mr. Moss was active with Hammers for Hope, a volunteer group that helps repair and remodel homes for low-income residents.
“He and Marty Boyer got together a team of guys who would build ramps and decking for elderly citizens,” Kay said. “He knew the math, could figure the angles, make sure it would fit on the site. He’d work out the materials list, and this team could go out and do a build in a weekend.”
Early in 2016, Mr. Moss’ booming voice began to fail, and doctors tentatively diagnosed Parkinson’s disease.
“He was very claustrophobic, so he wouldn’t take an MRI,” Kay said. “For a while, we were on a regimen of the pill-of-the-week.”
In early 2017, Mr. Moss started dropping weight rapidly, and doctors couldn’t figure out why.
“Over Memorial Day weekend, we went to Bunker Hill, like always,” Kay said. “By the time the weekend was over, his skin was bright yellow.”
On June 1, a new doctor uncovered the reason: pancreatic cancer.
“They found a tumor on his pancreas, and it had metastasized, with spots on his liver,” Kay said. “His pancreas and liver had both swollen and blocked the bile ducts, and that’s why he was yellow.”
Throughout the summer and fall, Mr. Moss underwent a variety of chemotherapy treatments, but by early January it was apparent the drugs weren’t working.
“He went on hospice, and we kept him here at home,” Kay said. “He was down to 120 pounds, a man who had weighed 250 or so most of his life.”
He died at home, with his BJC Hospice case nurse and his family around him.
Kay said her husband leaves a legacy of kindness and a strong work ethic.
“His whole life was terrific. It really was.”
“Life Story,” posted Saturdays on Leader Publications’ website, focuses on one individual’s impact on his or her community.