NEW ORLEANS – Chief operating officer of East Jefferson General Hospital and the co-founder of the popular Krewe of the Rolling Elvi, 50-year-old Bruce Macon Moore III passed away at his home in the Irish Channel on Thursday, April 18.
Moore was diagnosed with a rare, lethal form of cancer in November 2018.
After receiving a master’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, Moore moved to the Crescent City in 1996 to take a job with St. Charles General Hospital.
Over the years, Moore served as chief operating officer at People’s Health, Tenet Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans, Tenet Meadowcrest in Gretna, and NorthShore Regional Medical Center in Slidell.
Moore’s wife, Michelle Menough, said that he was, “devoted to Mardi Gras.”
He had been a member of the Phunny Phorty Phellows and the Krewe Du Vieux.
He’d ridden in the Tucks and Orpheus parades and in 2015 he was the grand marshal of the Lyons Carnival Club marching group.
When Mardi Gras season passed, he wrapped himself in a kilt to march with the Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day parade.
Moore also helped found the popular Krewe of the Rolling Elvi, a noisy parading group in which members don bouffant wigs and garish jumpsuits to impersonate Elvis Presley as they clownishly careen atop undersized scooters.
Steve Valack, a friend of 40 years, said the truth is, Moore wasn’t even a big Elvis fan, he and his cohort just wanted an instantly recognizable American icon.
The very first group of 35 Elvi were part of the 2004 Muses parade.
An instant crowd-pleaser, they now are a Carnival staple, and a charitable organization with roughly 200 riders.
Menough said that, per Mr. Moore’s wishes, there would be no service or funeral, but that in June, his friends and loved ones plan memorial celebrations in New Orleans and Richmond.
