Renaissance Man

                 Jerry Moore is a modern day Renaissance man.
                 At 81, he has acquired a profound knowledge and proficiency in many fields, and using these skills, he has created one-of -a-kind replicas of famous structures, including the Eiffel Tower and the original Ferris wheel. 
                He created these structures using toothpicks, Popsicle sticks and other household items, dedicating years of his life to the task and seeking no recognition from anyone.  And while Moore no longer creates the complex structures he has built in the past, he's putting his needle craft skills to the test to create wall hangings.
               Jerry and his wife, Paulina, are residents of Wesley Enhanced Living Upper Moreland.  Together, they make an unstoppable team.
               It all began when they became engaged eight days after they met and married three months after that.  Fifty-eight years later, they're still going strong.
               "I saw him, and I thought, 'Gee, he looks pretty good, I think I'll keep him,'" 82-year-old Paulina said with a smile.  "He's very good to me; he's an excellent father; I can't complain."
              For their married life, Jerry Moore has always had projects, Paulina said.
              "He sits down and he plans what he's going to do.  He goes to the library, he gets pictures, he mulls everything out ----- he works on it before he starts," she said.
              Jerry said his fascination with modeling buildings started when he was 9.
              After hearing about the Eiffel Tower, he asked his mom what it was.  She responded by giving him a toothpick kit so he could constuct a model of the tower.
              In 1941, he said, their house caught fire and was destroyed, along with the original Eiffel Tower kit.
              "It was always in the back of my mind to finish this," Jerry said, "If I couldn''t use my hands in myidle time, I'd go bananas; I'd really be lost."
              After the fire, Jerry couldn't find another toothpick kit, so he went to the library, took out the book "The Tallest Tower" by Joseph Harris and began to study it.   He studied the dimensions, how the original tower was built and said to himself, "I can do this."  And so he did ------- with impeccable detail.
              "I started to work on this and I got so involved that there was nothing that could keep me from completeing it.  About three years later, there it is," he said about the structure, which is made out of toothpicks, spruce wood, fir wood, copper wire and other items.
              The Ferris Wheel came next, because Moore said he had a few pieces of wood left over from his original project.  The ride is built from bicycle spokes, Popsicle sticks, toothpicks, straight pins and "other various pieces of hardware laying around."
              The replica has 36 cars, each with 40 seats.
              Only a handful of people have seen Jerry's detailed structures.
               "At most, five or six people have seen it," Jerry said of his models.  "I just do it.  My best critic is my wife.   I do it for my wife and my daughter."
               Asked about his philosophy of life, Jerry said he believes life is too short to get mad, or get even, or worry about what others think of his work.  "What comes, comes.  When we're finished, we're finished.  To keep me from going off the deep end, I put my hands together and I do this," he said.
               Moore noted that anyone who has idle time can pick up a hobby such as his most recent, which is counted cross-stitch.
               "You need a hobby in your later years; everybody needs a hobby," Jerry said.  Pointing to a smiling Paulina, and smiling back at her, he said, "she's not my biggest fan, she's my only fan."