Billings family-man Moore killed in car crash

The city of Billings suffered a shocking and painful loss when a beloved member of their community was unexpectedly killed. Michael Robert Moore died in an auto accident on Friday, Oct. 14. He was 53.
Moore held several roles in his lifetime. An Army veteran, he served in Kuwait for one year and then continued his service in the Army National Guard for a total of 18 years. He was also a husband and father, an emergency medical technician, an aircraft mechanic, a firefighter, a school board member, and an announcer at athletic events for the Billings School District.
Austin Essick, fire chief at the Billings Fire Protection District, described Moore as a “very upstanding, honest man, (and) definitely a family man.”
“If you saw him, you saw his wife or his kids; hardly ever did you see them apart. They were a tight knit family.”
Essick also said that Moore, who spent 23 years as an assistant fire chief at Billings Fire, kept the firefighters up to date on their CPR training, promoted camaraderie among the members of the fire protection district, and helped oversee the purchase of new equipment including two fire trucks. However, probably one of the biggest events to happen during Moore’s tenure at Billings Fire, Essick said, was the construction of a new fire station in 2003.
“That was a huge change for us,” Essick said, “as we're a small department. We didn't have a whole lot of money, so that was pretty exciting for us.”
A prayer vigil was held for Moore and his family at Grounded Coffee in Billings on Sunday, Oct. 16. Lisa Smith, co-owner of Grounded Coffee, said she estimated that about 100 people came to the vigil, and a collection held for Moore’s widow, Dawn Moore, raised an estimated $1,500.
Smith said the number of people who attended the prayer vigil showed what an impact Moore had among the people of Billings and the “the pillar that he was in the community.”
“It just says something about his testimony,” she said, “that he really had a hand in this community and the community wanted to return that blessing in this time of need. You know, when you have a tragedy like this, you just hope that if it were your own family, that the community would show up in the way they did. And after speaking with Dawn … after everything was said and done, she just said this is his legacy, this is his, who he was for others, and it was really encouraging to see it come back tenfold.”
There will be a visitation for Moore on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 in the Billings High School Auditorium from 5-8 p.m.; funeral services will be held on Friday, Oct. 21 at 10 a.m., also in the high school auditorium. Following the service, Moore will be buried at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Billings.