After 65 years, work still a part of Moon’s ‘retirement’ [Middletown Journal, Ohio]

Feb. 24--Tom Moon doesn't like change.

He has lived in the same Middletown house he built 45 years ago, has been married to the same woman he met at LeSourdsville Lake for 65 years, and has held the same insurance job for 65 years.

He's as predictable as Hawaii's weather.

Moon, 91, recently retired from Moon and Adrion Insurance where he has worked since 1948, and even now, he hardly stays away. Working is like breathing to Tom Moon. He enjoys talking to his clients and peeking in the offices on North Breiel Bouelvard, which is natural since his son, Craig Moon, and grandson, Tal Moon, work out of there.

The office is full of Moons.

It always has been that way. Vernon Moon founded the insurance business in 1921 and worked there until the 1980s. Tom Moon, a 1940 Middletown High School graduate, served four years during World War II, earned his degree from Otterbein College, then, after working for an insurance company in Columbus for five months, returned home.

And he never left.

One day, while playing miniature golf at LeSourdsville Lake, a lady named Charlotte caught his eye. They married in 1947, and recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.

He frequently thinks about World War II, and the difference a few inches made in his life and his family's legacy. He said several soldiers, those fighting "right next to me," were shot and killed. They never had a chance to come home, start a family, and continue a career.

"I was one of the lucky ones," he said. "God watched over me."

In his six decades in the insurance business, Moon has seen "countless" changes, he said. There was a time when all the insurance rates fit on a 3-by-5 index card. Today, they're stored on a computer, which, Moon said with a laugh, "left me by the wayside."

He has no regrets.

"Very blessed," he said.

Craig Moon, 59, referred to his father as the "consistent quarterback" who ran the insurance team. He always set the example for the others through his tireless work ethic.

"He just loved to serve the customers," Craig Moon said. "This was his profession, his hobby, his passion."

Joining the Moon team, especially during a time his grandfather worked full-time, was "a real blessing" to Tal Moon, a fourth generation insurance agent. Not many guys get an opportunity to work with their grandfather, he said.

Tom Moon said he plans to spend more time at home caring for his wife.

"I'll keep going as long as I'm walking," he said.

In order words, the sun will shine today in Hawaii.

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