Katherine Moore: A ray of sunshine

Teri Black, Staff Writer

Jacksonville, Illinois is well known for its importance to the deaf community. Many generations have walked through the doors of Illinois School for the Deaf, and keeping with the tradition of understanding is Jacksonville High School’s ASL class, taught by Ms. Katherine Moore.

Moore grew up in Riverton, IL and went to the University  of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She now attends Grand Canyon University for her Master’s degree. When she was young, she wanted to be “…a lawyer or a doctor, just something impressive.” But fate decided otherwise and she now teaches here at JHS, and even though her original aspirations were not to be a teacher, “…things fell into place and here I am,” she attests. Her favorite part of teaching is making ASL fun for her students since she very much enjoys it herself. Having worked at Walt Disney World, Moore learned to “…make magic for people there. If I can make magic for students here at JHS, then I have succeeded in life,” she says.

In her free time, Moore looks after her pets: six dogs (Zinger and Twinkie, French Bulldogs, Mira, a miniature schnauzer, Tucker, my certified hearing service dog, Dixie, a chocolate lab, and Ruger, a blue heeler), and her three horses (Saint, Josie, and Tuff). She enjoys horseback riding, spending time with friends, and playing volleyball. Of course, Moore loves anything Disney.

In line with her work, one of Moore’s favorite quotes is by Victor Hugo: “What matters deafness of the ear when the mind hears?  The one true deafness, the incurable deafness, is that of the mind.” And fitting with her love of Disney, two quotes she finds fitting are from Disney World, Walt Disney’s own: “All you need is a little faith, trust, and pixie dust,” as well as the Splash Mountain ride song which says, “It’s the truth, it’s actual – everything is satisfactual.”