No matter what time he walked into the Faulkner County coroner’s office in Conway, Deputy Coroner Robert Edwards knew his boss, Patrick Moore, would be there.
“He was always here,” Edwards said. “It didn’t matter if I came out here at 9 a.m. or 7 p.m. I hardly even hesitated; I’d just yell out, ‘What are you doing back there?’ It’s hard to walk in here and it be just me.”
Moore died of a heart attack on Labor Day, Sept. 4, at age 68. He’d been the Faulkner County coroner for 28 1/2 years and an emergency-medical technician for 40 years.
Edwards, 47, was named interim coroner by Faulkner County Judge Jim Baker.
“We had to have someone right off the bat to sign death certificates; we couldn’t even think about it,” Baker said. “Edwards was hand-picked by Pat to go to work for him.”
Edwards and Chief Deputy Coroner Jessica Thorn both said they are interested in being appointed to the permanent position.
Baker said he has had eight to 10 people call him in the past week to express interest in becoming coroner. The judge said he will make an appointment “probably between now and the first of the year.”
“I’m not going to rush it; I’m not sure one person can fill Pat’s shoes. I’m going to wait and see a little bit,” Baker said. “You have to have a calling to be a county coroner.”
Baker’s relationship with Moore was professional and personal. Baker’s 40-year-old son, Jason, died Aug. 20. Baker said Moore was “a big old angel when he showed up at my place.” He said Moore ruled that Jason’s death was caused by a heart attack.
Edwards said he worked alongside or under Moore for 31 years. Edwards began training with Moore in 2002 and became a deputy coroner in 2005, but his relationship with Moore goes back to the 1980s. Edwards worked with Moore and Moore’s wife, Leslie, on a hospital-based city ambulance service called Emergency Response Team, beginning in 1987.
“Because I wasn’t 18 yet, I couldn’t drive,” he said. “I spent no telling how many hours riding on the auxiliary, … the paramedics’ seat on the back of the ambulance.”
Edwards said he worked there with Moore for several years.
Edwards and his wife were in a restaurant one night, and the Moores were seated across from them. Pat, as he was called, was considered a part-time coroner, and he was talking about how busy he was.
Edwards, who wasn’t working in emergency response at the time, said he told Pat Moore, “If you ever need help, call me.”
Moore called within two weeks.
“We had a homicide north of the county. He said, ‘I’ve got a bad one; I need some help,’” Edwards said. “From then on, he called me just about when he had anything — a nursing-home death, a hospice call. Since then, I’ve gone with him about anywhere.”
Edwards said Moore was an excellent teacher.
“He was one of those people that it didn’t matter what we were doing, whether we were on a hospice case or a suicide or a homicide; he always took time to explain why we were doing what we were doing. He always asked our opinion — do you have a better idea? He was always an educator; he always made sure we understood why we were doing what we were doing. It might be a situation where he knew what needed to be done, but he’d say, ‘Bob, what do you think should be done? He was right in there with us,” Edwards said.
“It gave us an opportunity to think for ourselves — how are we going to solve this problem?” he said.
“He was always, up until the very last day, very involved in all the criminal cases we were taking into our charge,” Edwards said. “It didn’t matter if it was 3 o’clock in the afternoon or 3 in the morning — there’s no telling how many times he said, ‘Don’t apologize for calling and waking me up. That’s what I’m here for.’ That’s why this office has the reputation it does.”
Edwards paused during one part of the interview because he was overcome with emotion.
He was one who went to Moore’s house to attend to his death. He said Moore had taken a shower and was shaving when he apparently had a heart attack. Although it was a holiday, Moore had planned to meet Thorn to buy mums to plant at the office on Cimarron Drive.
Thorn, 33, said Moore was like a father to her.
“He has always been there for me,” she said. “We spent every day together.”
Thorn said she had worked with Moore for seven years and handled all the paperwork, as well as gone on calls with him.
She texted him the morning of his death, and at 10:15 a.m., he texted that he was getting in the shower. She got a call at 11 a.m. that he’d died.
“It’s been tragic; it’s been hard,” she said.
A licensed funeral director, Thorn planned Moore’s services. She said that about a year ago when she and Moore were in Bishop-Crites Funeral Home in Greenbrier, he pointed out the casket he wanted and told her what clothes he wanted to wear.
“He said, ‘If I die, I want you to plan my funeral. You’re the best funeral director I know.’ I said, ‘Coroner, I can’t do your funeral. You have to do my funeral.’”
Thorn said she always called him Coroner.
“He loved for me to call him Coroner,” she said. “I always told him he was the best coroner in Arkansas, and I believe that.”
Thorn said other coroners in the state often called Moore for advice. He was on the boards of the state and national associations of emergency-medical technicians and had served as presidents of both. Moore was honored by several organizations for his work.
Thorn said she wants to carry on his legacy.
“I know those shoes will never be filled. No matter who they put in there, Pat will always be the best,” she said.
Edwards said people often asked Moore, “When are you going to retire? When are you going to give this up and go fishing? He’d say, ‘This is what I was meant to do.’”
Edwards said he feels the same way.
“It just doesn’t feel like a job to me. I get people on a daily basis who say, ‘Oh, I’d love to do that job.’ People, they watch the TV shows, the CSIs and those types of things,” Edwards said. “It’s hard for me to put into words how I feel about it.
“They don’t see what we do — what we deal with, the families. It’s very emotional. They look at the drama; they don’t think about the infants we have to carry out of mothers’ arms or having to tell someone their 16-year-old has died in a car accident. That’s where our training that Pat has instilled in us shines through.”
Edwards said no matter who is appointed coroner, the office will still seem empty without Moore.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (50) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.