"The Moore's"

The Moore Family consists of Mr. Gail J. and Darlene R. Moore, parents of Tammy.  They reside in Otway, OH and have been married for 52 years.  Gail is a retired Highway Paving Superintendent having worked for the John R. Jurgensen Company in Cincinnati, OH for 32 years.  Darlene is a retired banker having worked for Security Central National Bank in both Portsmouth and Lucasville, OH.  She currently serves as a Scioto County Ambassador for the Portsmouth Floodwall Murals and volunteers her time with other community projects including the Miss Ohio USA and Miss Ohio Teen USA pageants. 

 

Tammy has two brothers:  Scott A. Moore and Steven A. Moore, Esq.  Scott and wife Neva reside in Otway, OH.  Scott is an Associate with TSHD Architects and serves as President of the Board for Main Street Portsmouth.  Neva is Program Director of the Wound Healing Center at the Southern Ohio Medical Center.  Neva’s daughter Rachel was recently married to Seth Phillips and relocated to Toledo, OH with Rachael’s daughter Alexis Hughes.  Neva’s son Jacob Sparks resides in Otway, OH.

Steve and wife Jennifer (Jenny) reside in Otway, OH.  Steve is President/CEO of Wastren Advantage, Inc. (WAI) in Piketon, OH.  Steve also serves as President or Board Chairman of 11 different multi-national companies.  Jenny provides management consulting, is an active member of several local charities, and provides direction for several WAI philanthropic activities.

"The Morton's"

The Morton Family consists of Mr. Robert (Bob) L. and the late Janet (Jan) L. Morton, parents of John.  Bob resides in Portsmouth, OH and was married to Jan for 47 years, prior to her passing in December 2011.  Bob is a retired President of AAA South Central Ohio having worked in the travel industry for over 40 years.  Jan retired as General Manager of WNXT Radio in Portsmouth, OH. 

John has three siblings:  Sharon L. Morton, James (Jim) R. Morton and Karen S. (Morton) Davis.  Sharon resides in Columbus, OH.  Sharon is a Manager for two apartment management companies: TownHomes Management and Karl Village Apartments.     

 

Jim and wife Karin along with their son Daniel spend time between homes in Portsmouth, OH and Stockholm, Sweden.  Jim also has two daughters, Alison – a student at Shawnee State University, and Kelsey – a student at Ohio University.  Jim works in the IT Department at AAA East Central in Portsmouth, OH.  Karin works as an Animal Rights Activist for the Swedish Fund for Research without Animal Experiments.

Karen and husband Don Davis reside in Lucasville, OH.  Karen is the Community Development Manager for the Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland.  Don is retired from the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. 

"The Mural Connection"

The Wedding and Reception will be held at the Scioto County Welcome Center.  This is located in front of the historic Portsmouth Floodwall Murals (http://www.portsmouthohiomurals.com). 

Both the Morton and Moore families are deeply connected to the historic floodwall murals.  They felt it would be an ideal place to hold the event and honor those involved.  John’s father, Robert (Bob) Morton, accompanied the late Dr. Louis Chaboudy in 1992 on the initial trip to Steubenville, Ohio to look at Steubenville’s existing murals when the concept of painting the Portsmouth floodwall was conceived.  Bob has been instrumental in this project from the very beginning and currently serves as the President of Portsmouth Murals, Inc.  Bob also is the coordinator of the annual Baseball Banquet, which is the primary fundraiser for the upkeep of the murals.

 

Tammy’s mother, Darlene Moore, is the lead Scioto County Ambassador who provides guided tours of the murals, explaining the history to visiting tourists and guests.  Darlene began this work in October 2000 after being trained by Ava Chaboudy (the late Dr. Louis Chaboudy’s wife) on the history of the murals.  It was actually John Morton who called Ava, after having met Darlene through dating Tammy, and recommended to Ava that she train Darlene as an Ambassador for the murals.  The story goes that when Ava called Darlene to ask if she would be interested in being trained as an Ambassador, Ava told Darlene that she “heard” (from John) that Darlene “liked to talk!”  Darlene confirmed that she in fact did like to talk and Ava said that was exactly the kind of person she wanted!  Darlene has delivered countless group tours, bus tours, walking tours and has trained additional Ambassadors on the historical story.  Darlene enjoys reliving all her experiences as she has kept record of every tour she has delivered since October 2000 and plans to one day turn those into her personal Mural Memoirs. 

If you are attending the wedding and would like to have a personal tour of the historic Floodwall Murals, Darlene will be providing a Mural Tour at 1:00 p.m. (lasting approximately 45 minutes) before the wedding.  Please RSVP if you would like to participate.  It would be our pleasure to introduce you to this historic artwork that is so significant to both our families.

Additionally, the recently released DVD documentary “Beyond These Walls” will be available for purchase at the Welcome Center on the wedding day.  This DVD features both Bob and Darlene in their respective roles with the murals.  It is an extremely well done documentary on the Portsmouth Murals.