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Joe Moran

JOE MORAN

In 1959, Joe Moran while assisting his son turn a boat over, suffered severe injuries to his aorta and the displacement of his heart from its sac.  While hospitalized, his physician requested that he sketch boats.  Impressed with Joe's ability, the doctor enrolled him a home study art course.  By 1962, Mr. Moran realized that he would never have the physicality to build boats again.  He began to study art with William Steene.(The Mississippi Press, January 9, 1994, p. 12-C)
 
William Robert Steene (1887-1965) was born at Syracuse, New York on August 18, 1887.  He was a nationally known portrait painter and muralist. Steene studied under Colarossi and Julian in Paris, after his initial art education at the Art Students’ League and National Academy of Design in New York City. Among his portraitures possibly familiar to local residents are: President Franklin D. Roosevelt; Senator Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi; Governor Henry Whitfield of Mississippi; Dr. Karl Meyer, head of Cook County Hospital at Chicago; E.V Richards, president of the Navy League of America and Paramount Richards Theatres; and golfing legend, Robert Trent “Bobby” Jones.(Who’s Who in America, Vol. 31, 1960-1961 and Bradford-O’Keefe Burial Book 48, p. 245)
 
William Steene built a home and studio at Gulf Hills in 1950. In 1956, from his Gulf Hills studio, W.R. Steene completed a large mural depicting the 1953 Louisiana Sesquicentennial Celebration, a remembrance of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, at New Orleans.  President Eisenhower is at the center of this 50-foot long, ten-foot tall, triptych mural, which took a year to complete.  The painting hangs in the Presbytery of the Louisiana State Museum at New Orleans.(The Daily Herald, “Know Your Coast”, November 15, 1957)
 
 
 
Clovinia Lucinda Ohr

Clovinia L. Ohr (1892-1989), called Clo, was born at Biloxi on May 1, 1892.  She was baptized on June 5, 1892, in the Nativity BVM Roman Catholic Church.  On April 15, 1909, Clo eloped and married Fredric Andrew Moran (1888-1972), a well-known boat builder and schooner racer of Biloxi.  He was the son of Ernest Moran and Catherine Kornman (1854-1922).(Lepre, 1991, p. 243, HARCO, Ms. MRB Bk. 21, p. 188 and The Biloxi Daily Herald, April 16, 1909, p. 1)

Clo and Freddie Moran were the parents of four children: Fredric “Elwood” Moran (1910-2001), Julia Moran (1912-1989) m. Ray Z. Sutton (1906-1966), Josephine Moran (1915-1997) m. John Morykwas, and Joseph “Joe” Moran (1915-1999) m. Dorothy Davis (1917-2011).   

Joe Moran, like his father, also built boats and in his later life became a nationally acclaimed painter.  Several of Mr. Moran’s works are in the Smithsonian Institute and two American presidents have acquired his art.(The Sun Herald, December 1, 1989, p. B-2 and The Sun Herald, March 24, 1999)     

E.W. Blossman Collection-Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Joseph W. Moran (1915-1999), called Joe, was born at Biloxi, Mississippi on December 6, 1915.  He expired on March 23, 1999.  Mr. Moran had married Dorothy 'Dot Davis (1917-2011), the daughter of George E. Davis and Cathwerine Schaeffer, in Harrison County, Mississippi on February 18, 1939.(Harrison County, Mississippi Circuit Court MRB 49, p. 450)

Children: Joseph Moran II (1942-1954); Beverly "Bev" Moran; Richard "Dick" Moran; Tommy Moran; Christopher Glenn Moran (b. 1952) m. Martha Joyce Ann Eleuterius and Lana June Koman; Cindy Moran Williams; Mary Moran Rogers; JoAnn Moran; Margaret Moran; Joseph Moran III; and Kathryn Moran Coggin.  

Grandchildren: Joseph Moran IV, Corinna Cannette, Peter Moran, Eva King, Wayne Moran, Steven Moran, Jennifer Seymour, TJ Moran, Jared Moran, Kelsey Moran, Marsha Jones, Justin Pearce, Kody Coggin and Brandon Coggin. She has numerous great grandchildren, cousins, nieces and nephews. 

Agnew Painting
 
 
In October 1969, a Joe Moran (1915-1999) oil painting of Biloxi shrimp trawlers was presented to Spiro T. Agnew, vice president of the United States, for his assistance following Hurricane Camille of August 1969.(The Ocean Springs Record, October 23, 1969, p. 10)
 
In November 1974, Mr. Moran held an exhibit of his work at the Blossman Building on Washington Avenue in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.  Edward W. 'Woody' Blossman (1913-1990) was a patron of Joe Moran and acquired his paintings which are on public display in the Blossman Building.  Joe was named to the 1974 edition of Who's Who in Mississippi.(The Ocean Springs Record, November 21, 1974, p. 1)
 
 
 
Dorothy 'Dot' Davis
Born January 13, 1917 and died December 11, 2011
 

 

Seafood Museum Art Gallery-Biloxi, Mississippi

[on loan from Dennis O'Keefe' brother]

 

REFERENCES:

The Daily Herald, “Frederic A. Moran”, July 11, 1972.

The Mississippi Press, 'Acccident led boatbuilder to become artist', January 9, 1994, p. 12-C.

The Ocean Springs Record, 'A Moran [painting] goes to Washington', October 23, 1969, p. 10.

The Ocean Springs Record, 'Joe Moran to give demonstration', May 4, 1972, p. 4.

The Ocean Springs Record, 'Moran exhibition at Blossman Building', November 21, 1974, p. 1.

The State Times [Baton Rouge], “Gala one-man show at Gerard's features Joe Moran”, December 3, , 1981.

The Sun, “Otto T. Ohr”, April 21, 1982.

The Sun Herald, “Mrs. Marguerite Ohr”, July 25, 1986.

The Sun Herald, “Carl Ohr”, October 22, 1986.

The Sun Herald, “Mrs. Clo L. Ohr Moran”, December 1, 1989.

The Sun Herald, “Ojo Ohr”, March 24, 1991.

The Sun Herald, “Some of Ohr's pottery comes back to grandson”, February 18, 1993.

The Sun Herald, “Carl Otto Ohr”, March 5, 1996.

The Sun Herald, “Moran leaves mark on Coast”, March 24, 1999.

The Sun Herald, “Wayne M. Morykwas”, July 29, 2005

 The Sun Herald, "Ohr's grandson [Joe Moran's photographs] in the spotlight", November 27, 2007, p. B-8.

The Sun Herald, “Dorothy 'Dot' Davis Moran”, December  13, 2011

The Times-Picayune, “Exhibit [Mobile, Alabama] to open”, May 9, 1965.

The Times-Picayune, “Award Winner [Tommy Moran]”, July 22, 1973.