Morris Weinberg

Morris "Moe" Weinberg died peacefully on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015, at his home on Chickamauga Lake in Hixson where he has lived since 1949. He was 98 years old. Moes parents, Harry and Fannie (Krant) Weinberg, emigrated from Russia in the early 1900s; they married in Philadelphia, and settled in New York City where Moe was born in 1916. Moe is survived by his three sons, Sandy, who with his wife Rosemary Armstrong, lives in Tampa, Fla., Randy (Kittisaro) who lives with his wife Mary (Thanissara) in South Africa, and James, who lives with his wife Mary Beth Cysewski in Nashville; and four grandchildren, Stokely Weinberg, Atlanta, Ga., Lilly Weinberg (and her husband Elan Gershoni), Miami, Fla., Antonio Weinberg, Arlington, Va., and Zoie Weinberg, Nashville. Moe was predeceased by his wife of 63 years, Janie May Stokely Weinberg. Theirs was an improbable union in the early 1940s of a New York City Jew from a working class Russian immigrant family and a Southern Baptist from a prominent east Tennessee family. Janie and Moe had an abiding faith to each other and a lifelong devotion to their three sons. Moe and his younger brother Rubins childhood centered around school and their fathers business, H. Weinberg Grocery, Dairy & Delicatessen, at 36 Market Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Moe started working behind the counter in the store at 6 years old. Moe skipped two grades in school and graduated from New York University at the age of 19, as a civil engineer. At the time, the Great Depression was in full swing and discrimination against Jews in New York City was rampant. Eventually, Moe was hired by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1938 and left New York City for the first time in his life. For the next several years, he was assigned to map remote areas in North Georgia, Vermont, Massachusetts, the eastern shore of Maryland and Maine. Moe enjoyed regaling about his experiences as a city boy surveying in the mountains of north Georgia with the occasional moonshiner. In 1940, he was assigned to Chattanooga, as part of a new venture to make maps from aerial photographs. At the time, photogrammetry was the future of map making. During World War II, Moe was part of the Army Map Service which made precise topographic maps for the troops. Over the years, Moe mapped the entire coast of Yugoslavia, France, Taiwan and many other areas. Eventually, Moes unit was absorbed into the Tennessee Valley Authority where he met Janie in 1943 and worked until his retirement in 1973. Janie and Moe purchased a lot on Chickamauga Lake in 1947 and built a cabin which became their home in 1949. Moe was a passionate reader and lover of classical music, the opera, politics, and baseball as a life-long Yankees fan, having grown up watching Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth in the 1920s. Moe and Janie found the Unitarian Church in 1951 where Moe served as a lay minister for several years. The Unitarian Church provided a spiritual and intellectual community for them and their sons. Janie and Moe were trailblazers who set an example of compassion and tolerance for their sons. They both believed that their biggest achievement was their sons who gave them joy until their deaths. Janie and Moe will be missed by all but never forgotten. Faith to each other. Their sons thank the extraordinary caregivers, Susie, Jennifer, Olivia and Nancy, who have been helping Moe and Janie in their last years. The family will have a memorial service in April at Moe and Janies home on the lake. Contributions in Moe and Janies memory may be made to the Weinberg Family Endowment Fund at Baylor School at 171 Baylor School Road, Chattanooga, TN 37405. Please share your thoughts and memories at www.chattanooganorthchapel.com. Arrangements are by the North Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory & Florist, 5401 Highway 153, Hixson.