The late Mrs. Gillian Lorba Tulay Moore (far right); her late husband Bai T. Moore Sr. (center); and others at a ceremony in Monrovia
Madam Gillian Lorba Tulay Moore, a prominent Liberian educator and widow of Liberia’s celebrated cultural icon, Bai T. Moore, died at 11:25 p.m. last Thursday, August 11 at the St. Joseph’s Catholic Hospital as a result of heart failure.
A family member told the Daily Observer that Mrs. Moore, 77, broke her hip some time ago while “moving fast” at her Sinkor Old Road residence.
On Tuesday, August 9, her illness became serious and she was rushed to the St. Joseph’s Catholic Hospital, where doctors and nurses that attended to her diagnosed her condition as heart failure.
The doctors initially assisted Mrs. Moore with lifesaving support, but were unable to prevent her ultimate demise, after which her body was taken to the Samuel Stryker Funeral Home on Tubman Boulevard in Sinkor.
Family sources disclosed that her body will be removed from the Samuel Stryker Funeral Home on September 9, and taken to the St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Camp Johnson Road for a night of wake-keeping; the funeral will then be held the following morning at the Sacred Heart Cathedral on Broad Street.
She will be buried alongside her late husband, Bai T. Moore in Dimeh Town on the Monrovia-Bomi highway on September 10.
Mrs. Tulay Moore was wedded to Bai T. Moore on January 28, 1968, at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Camp Johnson Road, Monrovia.
She leaves to mourn four children, Sando J. Moore, photojournalist and publisher of the monthly Images magazine; Mrs. Jacquelyn Moore Russell of the United States; Bai T. Moore Jr. of Monrovia; and Tito Moore Kesselly of Monrovia.
Mrs. Gillian Lorba Tulay Moore started her early primary education at the Bolahun Holy Cross Mission in the former Kolahun District, now Hassawoma District, in Lofa County in the early 1950s.
She matriculated to the St. Teresa Convent, a Catholic high school for girls in Monrovia.
Following her graduation from St. Teresa Convent, she entered the University of Liberia (UL) and graduated from the W.V.S. Tubman Teachers College in 1964 with a degree in Secondary Education. She was reportedly the first woman from Kolahun District to graduate from college.
Mrs. Gillian Tulay Moore started her teaching career at the B.W. Harris Episcopal High School and continued there until the outbreak of the Liberian civil war in 1990.
She was adroit at writing poems and plays and also had a passion for doing small business enterprises.
Interestingly, her baked bread of all sorts was always sold at the front door of her home on the Sinkor Old Road in Monrovia.