Obituary for Anita West Moss Anita West Moss, 74, was born on November 7, 1943 in Becker, MS. She died on April 11, 2018 following a brief illness. Anita was preceded in death by her parents, Daisy West Moss and James Rubel Moss, her brother, James Russell Moss, and her life partner, Glenn S. Burne.
Anita is survived by her daughters, Pamela Pierce Hausle and Heather Pierce Smith, both of Charlotte, her sons-in-law, Kenneth Hausle and Steven Smith, 3 granddaughters, Emily Simpson, April Hausle, and Amber Hausle, grandson, James Simpson and his wife Amy, 2 great grandsons Cameron Simpson and Carter Simpson, her sister, Carolyn Ritter, of Hernando, MS, her former husband and oldest friend, James Eric Pierce, many nieces, nephews, cousins, and countless devoted friends. Anita grew up on the outskirts of Amory, MS. She graduated with honors from Amory High School in 1961.
Education was important to Anita because of her admiration for her aunts who were teachers. Before finally receiving a BA from Lambuth College in Jackson, TN in 1970, Anita had attended classes at Georgia State University, the University of Texas at Arlington, and Memphis State University. She received her MA from Memphis State University in 1971, and a PhD from Indiana University in 1979.
In 1972, Anita began her 46-year career as a professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She was one of the first professors to teach Children’s Literature at the University. She was granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor in 1983, and she was promoted to Full Professor in 1989.
In 1987 she received a major National Endowment Grant titled “The Teaching of Literature, Writing, and Critical Thinking”. This grant provided funding to enable Anita to organize a series of workshops and seminars for CMS teachers. This affected the reading and writing curriculum in CMS schools for the better part of a decade.
She was also the co-editor of The Family of Stories: An Anthology of Children’s Literature, which Holt, Rinehart, and Winston published in 1986. During her tenure at UNC-Charlotte, she was, for several years, the Director of Composition, an editor for the journal Children’s Literature in Education, the 1988 recipient of the Bank of America Outstanding Teacher of the Year, and the author of countless published articles in various academic journals. Anita touched the lives of hundreds of students over 4 decades.
She continued teaching at UNC-Charlotte full time until the week before she died. Anita was a devoted mother and grandmother. She was generous with her time, money, imagination, and love.
She was an avid reader, lover of fine film, enlightened conversationalist, and progressive intellectual. She will be missed by everyone who knew her. A celebration of her life will be held at 2:00 on Sunday, April 15, 2018 at UNC-Charlotte, Fretwell Building, Auditorium 100, the Schely Lyons room.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Southern Poverty Law Center, splcenter.org//. Previous Events Service APR 15.
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