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Former W.Va. first lady Shelley Riley Moore dies

Sunday Gazette-Mail file photo Shelley Riley Moore, seen here in 1985, was the longest-serving first lady in West Virginia history. She died Saturday at 88. -
Sunday Gazette-Mail file photo
Shelley Riley Moore, seen here in 1985, was the longest-serving first lady in West Virginia history. She died Saturday at 88. –

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Shelley Riley Moore, who served as first lady of West Virginia for 12 years, longer than anyone else in the state’s history, died Saturday morning.

She was 88. The death was announced by her family.

Moore was married to former Gov. Arch Moore for 65 years. She was the mother of Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who has represented West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House for the past 13 years. Capito is running for the U.S. Senate.

Moore was the first lady of West Virginia from 1969 to 1977 and from 1985 to 1989.

Arch Moore’s tenure as governor — he remains the state’s only three-term governor — was notable for an unprecedented period of road building, strides in public education and welfare and mental-health programs.

As first lady, Shelley Moore focused on libraries, education and opening up the Governor’s Mansion to the public.

In 1985, she founded the West Virginia Mansion Preservation Foundation, to raise funds to redecorate and preserve the mansion.

She was with her husband through 26 elections…

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