Rachmaninoff and Ricky Nelson shared 12-year-old Linda Moore Pelletier’s hi-fi time, thanks to a supply of classical music albums from her beloved uncle “Ardrey Lee.”
Long after the pop stars of the early 1960s fell from the charts, Pelletier’s interest in classical music and art flourished.
“My uncle gave me culture,” said Pelletier, a 1970 UNC alumna, of Van Wyck, S.C., and longtime teacher at Charlotte Country Day School. “He was marvelous, educated, witty, and to the end, his mind was as sharp as a tack.”
Lucius Lee Ardrey Moore Jr. died in September 2007 at 84, leaving another legacy, one that will influence generations of Carolina students. Through his estate, he gave the College of Arts and Sciences $880,000 to establish the Jacques Hardré Distinguished Professorship in Romance Languages, the department’s first permanent professorship. The Hardré Professorship qualifies for another $334,000 from the state’s Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust Fund, making the total initial endowment $1,214,000. It will provide the department with annual income of more than $60,000 for salary and research funds.
“Lee’s gift honors a professor who was departmental chair at a very significant time of expansion, and at the same time will add to our faculty a very distinguished scholar of Romance Languages,” said Larry King, department chair. “It couldn’t come at a more critical time as several longtime members of our faculty are retiring, and we will need to recruit new faculty in a highly competitive environment.”
Moore earned four Carolina degrees, including bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and medical technology in 1949, a master’s degree (1950) and Ph.D. (1965) in public health. He was born in Davenport, Iowa, but grew up in Clinton, N.C. as the oldest of four children.
After completing his Ph.D., the tall, handsome scientist moved to Atlanta, beginning a 27-year career at the Centers for Disease Control as a consultant in parasitology and tropical medicine. Moore traveled often to the South Pacific, Central America and the Caribbean to train local health agencies on treatments to prevent and detect tropical diseases, including malaria.
A passionate chorister of church music, he joined Atlanta’s Cathedral of St. Philip in 1968, where he met his partner of 39 years, John Wilkerson. Wilkerson died just two months prior to Moore’s death.
Over the years, the two entertained numerous friends and family in their historic Ansley Park home, with annual mint julep parties, Easter champagne brunches and New Year’s Day dinners of traditional hog jowl, Hoppin’ John, collard greens and Moore’s infamous stewed tomato casserole.
Moore had already named Carolina in his will, but a friend suggested designating the gift in honor of a Carolina faculty member whom he held in great esteem.
That was Jacques Hardré, a French professor and mentor to Moore during his student years.
“He literally turned my uncle’s life around and made him realize his self-worth,” said Pelletier, who coincidentally was a French major.
Hardré began teaching at Carolina in 1945, was named a Kenan Professor in 1971, and retired in 1977. He died in 1983 at 68.
A native of Dinan, France, Hardré became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1956. From 1942 until 1945, he served as a lieutenant with the legendary First Armored Division of the Free French, earning a number of military awards for his service. Hardré earned two degrees at Carolina, an M.A. in 1941 and Ph.D. in 1948.
For Pelletier, the gift is a lasting reminder of her uncle’s remarkable generosity and his devotion to a place he loved.
“Ardrey Lee was so happy when he could help others. And he absolutely adored Chapel Hill--who doesn’t?”
