The coffee shop barista spoke about her upcoming trip. She plans to drive in her Crosstrek Subaru from South Carolina to Alaska to work on a train during the summer. The barista’s coworker also spoke of her plans for the summer: teaching English overseas. And the guest spoke of her own dreams of doing missions. But she made a thoughtful remark: “It seems our culture is all about moving around. There’s this sense of restlessness. I think we no longer see the beauty of making an impact through long-term presence in one place.”
Yvonne Moore. Perhaps the name doesn’t ring a bell.
She’s the woman who lived most of her life on the same street in west Greenville, within walking distance from her church. She lives next door to the house she grew up in. She’s attended Woodside Baptist Church for 87 years. Present-day culture would insist that sounds boring — but in Moore’s own words, “I’m content where I’m at.”
Moore stood up and fetched a little black book. Her dad was a welder and used the planner to keep track of his work hours. She flipped through the pencil-stained pages to find the date of her birthday: Nov. 25, 1938. Her dad wrote, “Another baby.” Moore was the youngest of nine kids. She doesn’t remember her father because he passed away when she was five months old.
Moore said, “I missed having a dad and still do.” But she remembers what her mother said: “God will be whatever you need.”
Moore’s mom, Agnes, went to work at the textile mill at the end of their street. Though she was never trained, she determined to provide for her children. Moore described her mother as a woman of faith. Her mom often referenced Psalm 37:5, saying her children would never beg for bread. Woodside Baptist Church brought them food — not out of pity, but out of their love and care for each other.
As a child, Moore remembered looking in the cabinet and wondering what they would eat. But somehow her mother would cook something. “She could just make a meal out of nothing,” Moore said. “And we never complained about what she fixed.”
Despite the hardship, Moore held fond childhood memories. On Wednesdays, the Woodside textile mill loaded kids on a bus and took them to local swimming pools — Woods Lake and Pine Grove Lake. On Friday nights, she went to baseball games at the neighborhood field. And in the summer, she remembered her favorite part of Vacation Bible School: drinking cold lemonade on a sunny day.
Moore walked over and fetched another small black book. Whereas, the other black planner held the announcement of her birthday, this book reminded Moore of her spiritual birthday. It was a Bible given to her during a local revival. She recalls gripping the pew as the legally blind preacher brought a message that pricked her heart. That day she gained spiritual sight.
Recalling her growth in Christ, she said, “I was thankful that He never let go of me. I love that promise because I certainly let go of Him plenty of times.”
Moore dropped out of high school and married a military man when she was 15 years old. But the relationship ended in divorce. She later married again to an alcoholic, and she endured over a decade of hardship. But she followed in her mother’s footsteps and relied on her faith in the Lord and her local church for strength.
Moore remembers Sundays when her husband would leave, promising he’d be back in time for church, but he wasn’t. So, she took her five sons and sat in the pew praying for God to come back now. That’s where she found peace. Eventually, that relationship ended, too, and she married Joe — whom she loved for 53 years before his passing in the fall of 2025.
Moore said the biggest regrets of her life were the times she strayed from God. She said she tells God that she wished she knew Him better and loved Him more. Yet she sees God’s faithful hand through it all.
“He’s made good come from all the bad choices. That’s what you can praise Him for, because He can take our mistakes and make blessings,” she said.
Throughout her life, Moore has always been a working woman. She worked odd jobs when her boys were young, then worked over a decade at Bahan Textile, and 23 years at the J.P. Stevens mill. For more than 30 years, she’s cleaned a mortuary six nights a week and taught water aerobics three times a week at the YMCA.
Moore sees every opportunity as from the Lord. Speaking of cleaning nearly every night, she said, “I don’t mind it at all because that’s where God has me right now.” She defined success as obedience to what He leads you to do daily.
And she doesn’t plan on retiring. “I don’t want to just sit,” she said.
Speaking of the house she’s lived in for years, she said, “God gave me this.” She continued, “If He ever tells me to move somewhere else, I’ll move.” But she said, “I’m content where I’m at.”