Anita Runge was born in San Angelo, Texas, the first child of James Forrest and Edith Winslow Runge. She grew up on the family ranch in northern Schleicher County and received her first seven years of schooling in the one-room Cliff School located just seven miles south of her home. She graduated from San Angelo High School and then the University of Texas in Austin with a BS in Home Economics.
Inspired by her mother, Anita maintained an active interest in the arts throughout her life. As a teen, she studied in Mexico and Guatemala under Elma Pratt, director of the International School of Art. Following college graduation, she studied under international sculptress Helena Zelezny in Rome.
Upon her return from Rome, Anita worked for the Texas Agricultural Extension service in Bell County as a home demonstration agent before embarking on a 1953 tour of France, Spain, Morocco and Scandinavia with her sister and friends. Anita then worked for McCall magazine and subsequently as an education consultant for Talon Zipper based in New York City. These jobs took her throughout the United States. Eventually, Anita traveled to China, Egypt and Germany ,and lived for two years in the Dominican Republic.
In 1958, she married Jene Moore in Schleicher County where they farmed before moving to San Angelo where Anita worked for Social Services. There, Anita discovered her talent for this type of work and graduated from the University of Michigan with a Masters degree in Social Work in 1967. Following their return from the Dominican Republic in 1969, the Moores moved to Pueblo, Colorado where she was employed with the Colorado State Hospital until her retirement as director of the Social Services Department.
Initially the couple moved from Pueblo to La Veta, Colorado and eventually to Kerrville, Texas in 1999. Upon the death of her husband in 2016, Anita moved back to Eldorado to live with her brother Jim and his wife Claryce. Anita was preceded in death by her parents, husband Jene and sister May Runge Kissko. In addition to Jim and Claryce, she is survived by her brother Dick and wife Caroline of Fort McKavett and 19 nieces and nephews.
The family wishes to thank Adela Sandate, Leonor Garza and Maria Guadarrama for the kind and loving care they gave Anita this past year.
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, January 6, 2018 at St. James Episcopal Church in Fort McKavett, Texas.
