Mark Guy Moore, A Laguna Beach Original

By Howard Hills

Word of Mark Moore’s passing on July 10, 2016, stunned and deeply saddened his hometown of Laguna Beach, as it did friends and colleagues everywhere. He won the admiration and affection of all those whose lives he touched in both the work and play that he pursued with equal creative passion. His uplifting presence in our lives will be missed profoundly by all who were blessed to have known him.

Moore was a true pioneer in business who founded a market niche for his cutting-edge company, all through his love and unstoppable drive for making machines that carry people faster and safer. Moore was doing what he loved most at work and at play when he was taken from us at the age of 64, flying down an open highway in the state of Washington alongside his brother Dan (LBHS Class of 1971).  It was to be an epic journey on motorcycles from Laguna Beach to Alaska.

Mark Guy Moore graduated from Laguna Beach High School with the class of 1970.  He is remembered by LBHS classmates as a bright, good natured and friendly young man with what would prove to be a life-long unquenchable thirst for knowledge about practically everything.  After school he worked as a photographer, and print graphics technician for the local newspaper, and he was a founding member of a Laguna Beach search and rescue team, often ably helping people in need during natural disasters.

For his classmates at LBHS, no high school romance stands out more than Mark’s marriage to Carol Dugger, also class of 1970 (LBHS Gym is named after her father).  After the two first “noticed each other” at their 30th LBHS reunion in 2000, were “mutually attracted” again at the next LBHS reunion in 2010, “hit it off” at their all-class 60th birthday party in 2012, Mark and Carol “finally realized” it was love and got married in 2013.

By then Moore had long since become a success story pursing his life’s work bringing fun into the lives of others as a leader in the amusement park ride industry.  As the founder and president of the Uremet Corporation in Santa Ana, Moore revolutionized amusement-park technology, increasing the speed and safety of roller-coasters across the nation and around the world.

Having come of age during the infancy of skateboarding in his hometown, Moore witnessed the advent of polyurethane skate wheels.  Just as fellow Laguna Beach surfer Hobie Alter created the surfboard industry, Moore innovated wheel technology to produce the gold-standard for roller-coaster wheels. Moore also became a leader in modern amusement park ride safety standards and preservation, as well as roller-coaster history and heritage.

Moore knew the satisfaction of reflecting on a life of purpose, knowing he had found a way to make a living that brought happiness to millions of people.  He also found a separate peace for himself flying his vintage model Stearman open cockpit bi-wing airplane and greater joy in his new life with his wife, Carol, who joined him in his pursuit of an intense natural curiosity about people and our world.

No one who knew Moore was surprised when he teamed up with the North American Eagle Project in the on-going endeavor to break the world land speed record in a supersonic wheeled vehicle, and contributing to innovative enhancements for the Eagle’s wheels and braking systems.  He also was known to show up at the hangar with a pot of his world famous chili for the project team. When the North American Eagle ultimately breaks both the sound barrier and the current 763 m.p.h. record, Moore will be out there on the desert flats among the crew watching it streak past a new milestone in the history of human invention.

Moore is survived by his wife Carol Dugger Moore, brother Dan Moore, sister Laura Moore, son Brett and daughter Brooke.  To honor his spirit of compassion lend a hand to someone who needs it, as he did so often, or, in his memory please send donations in his name to the Laguna Beach High School Scholarship Foundation (Attention: Dugger Scholarship), P.O. Box 1569, Laguna Beach CA 92652.