LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Virginia Moore, the admired ASL interpreter and deaf-rights advocate and leader passed away on Saturday.

What You Need To Know

  •  Virginia Moore, ASL interpreter for Gov. Beshear, passed away on Saturday

  •  Moore was a life-long advocate for deaf Kentuckians 

  •  A family friend shared how great Moore's impact on the lives of deaf persons was

  • Moore was a graduate of Indiana University

The state of Kentucky is mourning the loss of Moore, who was a constant presence for Gov. Andy Beshear’s news briefings. Moore was Beshear’s ASL translator and a long-time advocate for rights and inclusion of deaf citizens. 

In 2020, Moore was diagnosed with Stage 1 uterine cancer and took a leave from her duties with the governor’s office as she underwent a hysterectomy. She later shared that doctors had removed her cancer and eventually returned to sign at Beshear’s COVID briefings.

For decades, Moore has been a champion for the deaf community, working at the Kentucky School for the Blind in Danville, lobbying and advising state politicians in Frankfort, and communicating directly to all Kentuckians during daily COVID briefings.

On Monday, Spectrum News 1 spoke with a longtime friend of Moore as well as a former intern.

“She is going to be greatly missed. There’s a gap there now that’s she’s passed knowing that my relationship with her was so important,” George Payne Sr. said.

Payne knew Virginia Moore nearly his entire life. He is a close friend to the Moore family and classmate of Moore’s older brother, who also signs.

Payne described Moore as being a “strong coda.”

“She is very representative of her family. She socialized a lot with the deaf community. She was hilarious. She told jokes with her brothers and her sisters and just had a great personality,” Payne reflected.

While one of the most recognized names in the deaf community, Moore became a household presence, standing alongside Bashear during the many statewide COVID updates in 2020 and 2021.

“She is phenomenal,” Payne said. “It was fantastic to see the ability to get interpreting services provide through TV and that’s something we needed for a very, very long time.”

Spectrum News 1 also spoke to Jordan Ramser, an alumnus of Kentucky School for the Deaf. 

“I knew her through my internship at the Kentucky Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing,” Ramser said. “I had just graduated and did an internship at KCDHH and got to know her very well.”

Ramser is, in part, a product of Moore’s advocacy and dedication to the deaf community and said Moore had a passion for the cause.

“I would see her fighting for deaf rights. I would see her fighting for the deaf community,” he shared.”I would see her over and over and over, advocating for us and the fact she took her role so seriously and wanted to fight for was incredibly impactful for me. I didn’t see anybody else doing that. I saw that from Virgina Moore.”

The KCDHH said Moore passed away at 61 following a brief illness.

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