Wesley Moore III—also known as Rusty— has checked out of this earthly Motel-6-of-Woe and embarked with a one-way ticket to “that undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns.”
As the Reverend Gary Davis, a fellow South Carolinian put it, “When the Lawd get ready, you gotta move.”
In other words both Wesley and Rusty have died.
On December 14, 1952, Wesley was born with a full head of red hair, which displeased his father, Wesley Edward Moore, Jr.—but delighted his mother, Sue Blanton Moore, who was a ginger herself. Wesley’s grandfather, Kistler Blanton, gave him the nickname Rusty so people wouldn’t call him “Red.”
Wesley attended Summerville’s excellent public schools, graduated in 1971, received a BA in English from the University of South Carolina in 1975, then dropped out of graduate school in 1977, where he had met and fallen in love with Judy Deal Birdsong. They met working at a campus bar. Judy liked to say, “It was a marriage made in Milwaukee.”
Their son Harrison was born in 1984, followed by Wesley Edward (Ned) in 1986.
Wesley taught at first at Trident Technical College, then at Porter-Gaud School while Judy worked as a school psychologist. During his 34 years at Porter-Gaud, he served in various capacities, including department chair. He considered teaching at Porter-Gaud the second best thing that ever happened to him.
The Moores eventually moved to Folly Beach where they built a house on the so-called Folly River. The boys grew up, graduated from college, and established independent lives.
In 2014, Judy was diagnosed with T-Cell lymphoma, went into a brief remission, and made the best of a bad situation until her death on Mother’s Day in 2017. Her last words were a mouthed “thank you.”
What a woman!
In 2018 Wesley married Caroline Tigner, who with her daughter Brooks, established a new home on Folly where Caroline helped resurrect Wesley’s writing career. His first novel Today, Oh Boy (2023) was a critical success, though its sales were meager. He went on to publish a hodgepodge of a memoir, Long Ago Last Summer (2025) and another novel Winter Breakin (2027). His late life literary career would not have been possible without Caroline’s encouragement and keen editorial eye.
Throughout his life, Wesley enjoyed a variety of pastimes. He surfed from ages 16 to 70, dabbled in Buddhism, and published a blog. Almost every afternoon would find him at Chico Feo or Lowlife on Folly hanging out with people in their twenties and thirties, and forties. He missed being a teacher and enjoyed conversing with curious young people like Jack Fortune and Molly Fergurson.
But, alas, he’s dead, and that is that. As Wesley’s favorite short story writer once observed, “You can’t be any poorer than dead.”
Survivors, etc.
