Deceased September 24, 2020

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In Memory

Libby Hyde Moore '83
On Sept. 24, 2020, Libby concluded a valiant year-long battle with cancer. Surrounded by her family, she spent her last weeks in hospice care near their home in Freeport, Maine. Libby’s deep connection to nature’s spirit gave her, and everyone around her, courage as she approached the end of her life. She is survived by her husband, Bob; their children, Jo ’17, Nina and Willson; her parents, Polly and Alan Hyde ’50; and sister Pam ’85.

Libby came to Amherst in 1979 from Cleveland. Many of us quickly became the beneficiaries of her rare gift for listening and the way she offered her laser-focus attention to our worries and accomplishments before posing a probing question or profound insight. Amherst friends will fondly recall sharing late nights laughing, pondering philosophical hypotheses, gazing at star-filled skies and listening to the Grateful Dead. 

She pursued biology and English at Amherst and went on to work in forest ecology, land use policy and conservation. Libby met the love of her life, Bob Moore, during graduate school at Yale’s School of Forestry. They discovered shared passions for trees, dogs, words and birds and went on to make a Maine farmhouse their perfect home for nearly 30 years and the place they raised three truly remarkable children. 

In recent years, Libby developed a Reiki practice and led women’s spiritual retreats. She also played a leadership role in establishing the Red Canoe Foundation, a non-profit supporting youth access to wilderness opportunities, inspired by her own transformative experiences canoeing in northern Ontario. Her blog, thecomingseason.blogspot.com, combined her love of natural cycles, raising a family and writing with spectacular imagery. Well before her cancer diagnosis, Libby completed the text of a children’s book addressing love, death and nature. The River of Birds, beautifully illustrated with the birds she so loved, will be published in the coming year. 

Libby treated every day, every loved one and every wonder of the earth like a gift. She encouraged us all to see beauty and opportunity in everything. Those of us so fortunate to have known Libby can still see her, every day, in all of nature’s miracles.

Friends wishing to learn more about Libby's foundation may go to www.redcanoefoundation.org.

Katie Fretwell ’81