Rex Oliver Mooney, Jr.

Rex Oliver Mooney, Jr. was born on January 16, 1944, in Tucson, Arizona, and died on July 19, 2023, in Tallahassee, Florida. He was a husband, father, and teacher, who was much loved, respected, and remembered with gratitude by many.

He was a man of curiosity, scholarship, wit, and deep loyalties. And he was the product of a life that took him to a number of places. He grew up on the Chesapeake Bay, and Virginia was always a part of him, but other childhood influences included visits to family in Texas and summers in New England where his father fished the Grand Banks; thus, his lifelong love of the Boston Red Sox and his support of the Longhorns of UT. 

He graduated from high school in Hampton, VA and attended the University of Virginia where he earned a degree in history. UVA was another of his lifetime loyalties. Graduate school proved to be a turning point in his life, as he made his way to Baton Rouge and LSU. There he earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in history and became a Tiger for life. He spent a few years in Dallas, where he taught at the Greenhill School. But he soon moved to New Orleans, and in 1980 he and Barbara Dunn Mooney, of Lake Charles, were married. In 1981, their daughter Katherine was born, and it was the beginning of many family adventures and experiences, including visits to Texas and Virginia and more than a few horse shows.

Doctor Mooney, or “Doc” as they called him, spent thirty-three years at St Martin's Episcopal School in Metairie, LA, where he taught U.S. history and humanities, and served as college counselor. His family wishes to thank the hundreds of students and colleagues who expressed their love and respect for him during his final illness. They would also like, in particular to thank James Geary, who was so unfailingly kind and generous in the last years of Doc's life. In retirement, Rex remained a scholar, pursuing reading and study about many interests from W.B. Yeats to W.H. Auden to Duke Ellington.

Rex is survived by his wife, Barbara Dunn Mooney, and his daughter, Katherine Carmines Mooney, both of Tallahassee, FL; by his sisters-in-law, Anne Dunn of Baton Rouge, and Patsy Dunn Moore (Charles) of Lake Charles, LA. He was preceded in death by his parents, Rex Oliver Mooney, Sr., and Ava Carmines Mooney.

A small graveside service will be held at 11:00 AM, Saturday, August 5, 2023, in the Goos Cemetery, located at 1200 N. Shattuck Street, Lake Charles, LA 70601, under the direction of Johnson Funeral Home of Lake Charles.

A larger memorial will take place at St. Martin's Episcopal School in the coming weeks.