A Solid Gold Record of Service to the Red Cross : Louise Moore has faced more major disasters than anyone in the Los Angeles chapter. Through it all, she has offered boundless support and help.

The living room of Louise Moore’s Granada Hills home looks like that of an ordinary grandmother: Photos of the grandkids grace the shelves, framed needlepoint decorates the walls and a sheet is carefully draped over the sofa to protect it from her two yapping dogs.

But those who know Moore say that she is anything but ordinary.

The 78-year-old woman has faced fires, floods and hurricanes during the past 50 years--not to mention landslides and plane crashes. And she keeps coming back for more.

As a Red Cross social worker, Moore has dealt with 91 major disasters and countless other emergencies--more than any other worker in the organization’s Los Angeles chapter, officials said. From knitting sweaters for World War II servicemen to helping Northridge quake victims find new homes, Moore has been on the front lines of disaster relief. Along the way, she has helped train countless other workers and volunteers.

“It kind of gets in your blood, in a way,” she said. “I discovered, for one thing, you go off on a major disaster . . . you’d better be prepared for anything that happens. There is a tremendous need for people to have immediate assistance. It’s so huge, you can’t think about what you’re feeling.”

This month, Moore was one of 14 Red Cross workers and volunteers designated Los Angeles Legends in honor of their outstanding service to the organization.

Moore said that although she is overwhelmed and a little embarrassed at receiving the Legend award, it has given her a chance to reflect on her years spent helping others.

After graduating from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, she was recruited to work for the Red Cross as a trained social worker in 1943, helping World War II servicemen keep in touch with their families.

Things were a little different back then.

“We wouldn’t do it today, but we used to give away cigarettes,” Moore said with a laugh. “Tons and tons of cigarettes, and shaving equipment.”

But, she added, the needs of military personnel have not changed that much. Quick communication with family members during emergencies is still one of the most important Red Cross services, she said.

Moore left the organization for about 10 years after she married an Air Force pilot she met on a military bases. After living in Buffalo, N.Y., they moved to Los Angeles in 1957, where she started working for the local Red Cross chapter.

One of her first major disaster assignments was the relief effort after Hurricane Camille hit the Gulf states in August 1969. For two weeks, Moore and others drove 90 miles round trip to work 14-hour shifts helping victims in the humid Mississippi weather.

She immediately was struck by the resilience of many victims.

Survivors “inspire a person,” she said. “Generally, people are so able to take hold and move on, even though this [disaster] has happened to them.”

Moore recalls asking an older woman who had lost three homes to hurricanes why she stayed: “She just drew herself up with dignity and said: ‘This is my home.’ I have never questioned since then if people want to rebuild in the same spot where they were.”

Moore said people have various reactions in disasters--some generous, some angry and some refusing to believe what has happened.

Others, she said, pick themselves right up.

After a family in Santa Barbara lost their home and business in a fire, Moore said she commented sympathetically on their plight of having lost everything at once. But their response was, “We’re young--we can start again.”

“It’s just very special. It isn’t often that you can find people who can pick up life right away again,” Moore said. “There’s an expression I like to use: Lay me down to bleed awhile, and I will rise again.”

In her years with the Red Cross, Moore has trained and worked with many staff members who have gone on to leadership positions in the organization, and who say she has been an outstanding role model.

“One of the things I recall most about working with her was her caring and compassion for disaster victims . . . and her ability to help them recover, but with dignity, to let them take part in their recovery,” said Jim Haigwood, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles chapter of the Red Cross, who first worked with Moore as a volunteer in the 1960s.

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Moore always helped victims play a practical role in solving their problems, said Pat Snyder, a volunteer consultant with the Los Angeles chapter.

“She would always start with something they could put their hands around, asking, ‘Where are you going to stay tonight?’ and not ‘How are you going to rebuild your life?’ ” Snyder said.

Moore’s compassion extends to crying with victims, said Sharon Counselman-Keith, director of emergency services for the Los Angeles chapter.

“She taught us that there’s a time when [grief] is appropriate,” Counselman-Keith said.

Though personally affected by both the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and the 1994 Northridge quake, Moore went out to help others after dealing with the damage to her home.

She retired from her paid position as the supervisor of disaster services 15 years ago, but Moore remains on call as a member of the reserves and still trains new Red Cross workers.

A combination of objectivity and empathy has helped her cope with the death and pain at disaster scenes, Moore said.

“It’s difficult not to take the pain home, but I have kind of been able to shut the door . . . because I had my family to think of,” she said. “They’ve always been very supportive.”

Sometimes when she was summoned to a big disaster, Moore would leave her family for as much as two months. But whenever another phone call came, her children would urge her on, saying, “Go, Mom, go!”

Without their encouragement, Moore said, she never could have dedicated decades of her life to helping others.

“I keep saying, ‘They’ve got to train younger people, because us old crocks aren’t going to be around forever.’ ”

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The Beat

Today’s centerpiece focuses on veteran Red Cross worker Louise Moore, who has worked for the organization since World War II. For information on volunteering or offering services to the Red Cross, call the Los Angeles chapter at (213) 739-5200.