Judge Bob Moon was a great man who served his community and was fair to everyone. I personally encountered him on several occasions.

As my mother says and holds true to his character, "You write your own obituary." This is proven with his dedication to the greater good of Chattanooga as his actions have written his own obituary with many more agreements.

Better to be remembered as a good man than a wealthy man. My condolences to the family.

Kris A. McDowell

* * *

I was so sadden to hear of the demise of Judge Bob Moon. He was such a fair and honorable judge, a great asset to our judical system.

I have been in his court many times and watched as he tried to deal with the perpetrators in a fair and positive way. He would often impose a strict sentence to persuade them to straighten up and not repeat the crime.

We have lost three of my favorite and most outstanding judges in the last 12 years. Judge Bob Millican, Judge Michael Carter (resigned) and now Judge Moon.

My sincere condolences go out to Debbie and his family, RIP Judge Moon.

Dianne Brock
Former DUI Victim's advocate volunteer

* * *

About three years ago, one of my brothers was arrested for loitering and public intoxication in Chattanooga. This event was the latest in 30 years of fighting alcoholism. At this point in his life, my brother had lost his self-respect, family, job, home and truck.

Another of my brothers came up from South Carolina and asked to meet with Judge Moon. He had found a treatment center in South Carolina for my brother. Judge Moon met with both of my brothers. He saw that my brother who had been arrested had no criminal record. Not only did he clear the way for my brother to be released to go to South Carolina to enter this program, Judge Moon also took time to talk to him and he encouraged him to get his life straightened out.

Three years later, I am proud to say that my brother has been completely sober due to 1) his faith in God, 2) his success in the program and 3) Judge Bob Moon.

Chattanooga has lost a great man.

Sara Wilson
Chickamauga

* * *

I was a very good friend of General Sessions Court Judge Robert Moon. He was a very good man who cared about the community and all the problems they we are currently having. In his court he knew when to be fair and when to be hard. He had a sixith sense about himself in the court room and in life.

He was active in supporting The Boys Club and helping children do the right things in life.

He knew the law and he knew people. He was a credit to his profession and he was a great person to be around because you always learned something from him.

He will be sadly missed here in Chattanooga and Hamilton County.

Sergeant Ralph S. Brown retired Chattanooga Police Department
Flintstone

* * *

I was shocked and saddened to learn of the untimely passing of Judge Bob Moon. This community has lost a tremendous public servant and I have lost a friend. Bob Moon had a heart of gold. He gave of himself to anyone who needed help or just a kind word. It was not surprising to read that his last act in this world was composing a poem for Rees Skillern, who recently lost his battle with cancer.
Personally I am still trying to comprehend that Bob is gone. My prayer is for God's comfort for his family and legion of friends. Bob Moon will have many jewels in his crown.

Randy Russell
Hixson

* * *

I am one of the many Hamilton County residents to have been honored to share friendship with Bob Moon. Bob and I were fellow members in the Harrison Ruritan Club and the AACA (Antique Automobile Club of America). I got to know Bob very well through the local car shows and as I'm the chairman of two, I often had the pleasure to chat about our auto passions.

Bob loved 1940 Fords, had owned several incredibly nice ones, and I assume that at this time of his passing he owned a Woodie and pick-up truck. He was very proud of them.

Bob expressed interest in buying my 1925 Ford Touring Car two years ago. I wasn't interested in selling but it meant a great deal to me that Bob admired the car. Bob was very serious about his cars.

I don't remember the occasion but Bob sent me a collector's knife which was dedicated to 1940 Fords along with a card expressing his appreciation of friendship with me. I will treasure that card and knife as long as I live.

As has been pointed out here, Bob also had a passion for the local Boys and Girls Clubs. He spoke of their importance often and credits the Boys Club with keeping him on the straight and narrow as a youth.

Hamilton Countians have lost a wonderful friend and servant.

Jim Holcomb
Harrison

* * *

I personally never met Judge Moon nor knew anything about him. But my e-mail system has been flooded today with letters about what a great man he was.

Everyone from Saint to Sinner seemed to like him, which is pretty amazing.

For what it's worth, my condolences to his friends and family. Chattanooga has lost a good man. We could learn a lot from his example.

Charles Bikas

* * *

I had the pleasure of knowing and practicing law before the Honorable Judge Moon for the past six years. He always took the time to talk to me about my personal life, my family, my law practice, the practice of law in general and how to live life with dignity and honor. He welcomed me into his office without notice and always expressed genuine concern for how my family was doing.

As a judge, he challenged my intellectual and legal abilities every time I entered his court room. He held me to the highest legal and ethical standards whenever I was in his presence, which always inspired me to be over-prepared before entering in his court room.

Judge Moon and I are alumni of the University of Memphis Law School (formerly Memphis State) and I will fondly remember him having a great amount of pride in his accomplishment of going to law school and becoming a successful member of the Tennessee Bar.

Most of all, I will remember him for his dedication to the community and the young people whose lives he had the chance to impact for the better. So many times I heard him give people second chances in his court room and tell them that if they would go back to school and get an education and then bring him their report cards with good grades and good attendance, he would buy their textbooks for the next semester. He offered to personally write letters on behalf of some of my clients in case they needed an explanation of the disposition of their cases for their employers because he believed in and actively supported people working hard to improve their lives no matter what mistakes they had made in the past.

Based on my personal experience practicing law in front of Judge Moon and my many personal conversations with him, I knew Judge Moon to be an advocate for young people and encouraging them to get an education. He believed in personal accountability, integrity in your dealings with others, and that honesty was always the best choice. He could be as tough as they come in the courtroom but he also believed in second chances. He was fair but firm and he was always engaged in my cases.

Judge Moon was a very vocal advocate from the bench and he let his thoughts be known while on the bench. Most importantly though, he lived by the principles that he advocated. He worked hard to get where he was. He got an education despite great adversity. He showed respect for his fellow man.

He helped other people accomplish their goals and their dreams. He went out of his way to assist people less fortunate than him. And he showed genuine interest in the well-being of those who also lived by these principles.

I will miss Judge Moon. He was a good man and a respected colleague. I considered him my friend and I am deeply saddened by the loss of a man for whom I had the utmost respect. My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, his family, his friends, and the rest of the legal community. May peace be with you all.

Ryan D. Hanzelik
Attorney at Law

* * *

Judge Moon was a wonderful person. A compassionate judge and just an all around great human being. I met him at a poetry reading a little more than two years ago. I was sitting alone at this table looking through some of my own poems I'd written over the years, and when I looked up there he was. Just sitting there waiting his turn to read his poem just like the rest of us.

This was my first time ever attending such an event, and I must say I did feel a little intimidated and embarrassed, as I thought I'd perhaps sat at the wrong table. A table perhaps reserved for him. He must have read my mind, because he looked across the table with a beautiful smile as if to assure me, "You're fine right where you are sister. We're all one here."

I still didn't get the courage to stand up before a crowd and read any of my poems that day, but I think I was inspired by Judge Moon's humbleness and down to earth attitude. So much so that at the next poetry reading I attended I did what my daughter had been begging me to do for years. I stood before a crowded room and read one of my poems.

Thank you, Judge Moon, for just being you. My heartfelt condolences to the family.

Brenda Manghane-Washington

* * *

Hope Bonding and AAA Bonding is employed exclusively by U.S. Army veterans, we are also ministers and do our own bounty hunting. Last week we turned in a fugative we arrested in Daytona, Fla. after a six-day hunt. We returned with him and went before Judge Moon to surrender the individual.

During our time with Judge Moon I mentioned that my new agent for Hope Bonding was a combat veteran of the Iraq war. Judge Moon set the case aside and for about five minutes bragged on my new agents and my service in the United States Army. He went on to talk about how we need to recognize true heroes and that we were those heroes. He said it would benefit our society to honor and respect true patriots instead of rock stars and sports personalities.

Judge Moon did such a good job that I was choking on raw emotion on the verge of tears. At that same time the whole court room responded to Judge Moons accolades with a resounding applause.

Judge Moon, I salute you sir, and I will never forget your words to this group of soldiers.

Will Fix

* * *

It was a foggy, rainy mountain morning on Signal when the sirens screamed down my street shortly after 7 a.m. They abruptly stopped in front of my house, causing me to look out the window into the pre-dawn darkness. The Moon house is directly across the street. I saw the silhouette of Debbie as she passed by her window toward the front door, and her posture gave me a sick premonition. There were too many police cars, an ambulance, and a fire truck; Debbie is a top-notch nurse, and I knew she would have been able to handle most emergencies. I struggled to think of a better explanation than what soon became the headline of the day, as my suspicion was confirmed.

Bob Moon is known by most as “judge”; I am known by most as “elementary school teacher”; but as neighbors we became friends with a rare connection as fellow writers. We shared pieces across the street through cyberspace, bouncing off each other for feedback. Our styles are entirely different. I envied his knack for taking a piece from raw inspiration to flawless final form within 30 minutes, while I usually need days or weeks (sometimes even months) to ebb and flow with a piece—revise, rework, delete, and begin again—until I can take it to a place I see as “finished.” I’ve laughingly told him I would have made a poor judge, with dockets hopelessly backlogged while I methodically considered all possible dispositions.

Bob was a poet, while I consider myself an essayist; that accounts for part of the difference. Our styles complemented each other.

The day’s heavy rains and thick fog took me back to a piece of writing not so long ago, when my writing bounced off his writing in a rare connection. Today, I see the pieces together as a tribute to my friend Bob Moon, who less than a year ago wrote a fine poem inspired by the tragedy of two Amish families who lost four children in a flash flood in Dublin, Ky. on Feb. 25, 2011. His poem “On a Creek for Heaven Bound” was published by Aladdin Printing & Copying in a limited edition print, in a collaborative effort with nationally acclaimed photographer, George Tice, of Newark, N.J. My own copy of that print is now a treasured piece on my living room wall.

For the background story, an excerpt from http://chattanoogan.com/articles/article_195955.asp: March 6, 2011:

Emanuel Wagler unknowingly crossed a swollen creek in the dark with his wife and seven children in their horse and buggy in Graves County…. what was normally a very small stream had swollen into waist-high fast water. By Thursday afternoon, more than 250 emergency workers were summoned along the rising creek looking for the four children that were lost when the buggy overturned. They found the bodies of five-month-old Rosemary, five-year-old Sarahmae and eight-year-old Samuel. Rescuers had hoped that 11-year-old Elizabeth, might have survived by holding onto limbs. However, her body was found about one half mile from where the incident occurred. "She was just an all around good girl," said Levi Yoder, Elizabeth's uncle. He said, "They crossed the creek, but when they came back, they didn't realize it was still rising." Officials stated that the single horse pulling the buggy survived.

The children were laid to rest Monday afternoon with more than 500 Amish people coming to console the families from several states. Media and cameras were not allowed on the family property and roads were blocked off to secure their privacy, according to Sheriff Redmon. Amish custom requires the family to dress in black for one year.

My response to his poem and now my tribute to the man I have known for 15 years as my neighbor, friend, and fellow writer: http://chattanoogan.com/articles/article_196032.asp

News last week of the four Amish children that perished in a flash flood in Kentucky and as now described in the Chattanoogan.com is heartbreaking.

The joint production of photograph and poetry by one of our local judges and a world-famous photographer to raise money for the families is a wonderful and compassionate tribute to these children.

The speed with which this project completed the process from inspiration to pen to paper to press is amazing and surely reflects the determination of the people involved, that this project take top priority. This is exactly the kind of exemplary character and ethical standard that typically fails to rate headline status in media stories regarding well-known people.

Two highly successful men with busy and demanding schedules stopped whatever else they were doing do make this project happen from start to finish within a week.

Such a loss as that experienced by this Amish family in Kentucky is difficult for me even to imagine. It’s a humbling reminder to slow down, to remember what is most important, and to be sure my time and energy are wisely spent — as I believe the Amish do much better than I. Maybe today I should turn off the TV, shut down the computer, unplug the phone, and — just for today — use that time instead to play games and have stories, smiles and hugs with my child.

I must slow down and remember, not just today but every day, that life is fragile and can be gone in a flash, as it was for four Amish children on a cold and rainy February night in a small Kentucky town.

I close with an excerpt from my private correspondence received from Bob after the publication of my editorial: “Karen, it is so very strange; but the death of these four children did not fully hit me until I read your letter for the third time.”

Ah, friend, your loss has yet to fully hit me. It reminds me that while we go about our daily lives unaware, all our creeks are rising.

Little did I know in March the connections I would draw today from small town Kentucky to the gray house across my Signal Mountain street, where this morning my good friend left suddenly—too soon—on his own journey for “heaven bound.”

Karen Walden Simpson
Signal Mountain

* * *

I too was in shock yesterday after hearing of the loss of this wonderful human being, Judge Bob Moon. When I served as the comptroller of the town of Signal Mountain, I was privileged and awed to watch this man on the bench as he served as Signal Mountain's judge. His fairness and, yes, toughness was legendary.

When one of my daughters was a teenager, she received a speeding ticket while trying to make it to her UTC class on time. When she told me and her father about it, she was upset, not because she didn't deserve it, but she felt that the speed that was recorded on the ticket was much faster than she was traveling. She didn't want her driving record, now that she had one, to be incorrect. I suggested that she appeal to the court to have it changed, knowing that Judge Moon would probably hear her case.

Although her father and I sat in the back for her support, I saw her face turn white with what happened during the first case. The defendant was a young man in handcuffs, who when asked by Judge Moon about any previous arrests, lied that he had never been arrested before this occasion. Of course, Judge Moon had his record before him and knew that the young man was lying to the court. In his booming voice Judge Moon immediately marched him to jail.

Of course, my daughter was called next. She pleaded guilty to the charges of speeding but noted that she had come to court to ask that her correct speed be recorded on the ticket before she paid it. When Judge Moon began asking her about her work and/or the school she attended, she told him that she was a full time student at UTC but also worked on campus. After he asked about her grades in school and she told him that her last semester cumulative grade was 3.5, he used her as an example of what teenagers should be doing with the educational opportunities that were available. He then added that since she had been so diligent in her studies and had stayed home studying while her friends were out having fun (not true, but she knew better than to correct him), if she did not receive another ticket within six months, he would permanently remove this offense from her record.

Having attended so many of his court sessions before I left the comptroller position, I was almost sure that this would be how he handled it but her father and I wanted her to take on the responsibility and consequences of her speeding, whatever happened. I was also impressed by Judge Moon's composure when he then asked my daughter one last question, "What is your major in school?" When she sheepishly said, "criminal justice" the whole court except for Judge Moon started giggling. He looked down at her from the bench without even a smile and added, "Ms. Scott, I hope you realize that there are easier ways to research our court systems. Case dismissed."

My prayers go to Debbie and to all his many friends who, as I am, are genuinely grieving this huge loss to our community and to his profession.

Lynda Scott
Signal Mountain

* * *

I am writing in regards to the loss of a friend and also a hero. I was a court clerk in General Sessions Criminal Division for 22 years before I went active duty with the Tennessee National Guard which I am still active. I had worked many of these years with Judge Bob Moon and respected him as a friend and a judge.

He had told me many times I was a hero for what I was doing and did for my country. But the way I look at this man he was truly the hero and will be missed by all.

I salute this man for his services and dedication to his country for all he has done.

SFC Rick Mullins
HHD 117th Military Police BN
Athens, Tn.

* * *

My memories of Bob Moon go back so many years it's hard to believe I knew him that long. Has to be 30 years.

From the days of building the deck on his house, to getting in my old truck and deer hunting from the top of Signal Mountain to Bucksnort, Centerville, Land between the Lakes, and Genesis at Crossville. That was before he became a professional.

I remember one time he sent me an autographed picture of him on the cover of a deer hunters magazine. He and I, and a couple other local attorneys made it an annual event. I also was a recepient of one of his poems during a troubled time in my life. I've carried it in my bible ever since and read it often. It's dated June 1987. I sent him a copy 20 years later in 2007 just to let him know I kept it and it meant something to me.

My words won't be as eloquent as you'll hear from others, but mine are from the heart. There was never a time I called that he didn't offer excellent advice. He was patient, kind, and considerate. Sometimes he'd get mad because of what I'd said or done, but after the lecture, it was always you're my friend and I'll help anyway I can. That's the real Bob Moon who will be missed by many.

I just thank God that he called me a week or so ago for a long conversation, and I had a final goodbye, even though I didn't know it at the time. He was my friend andI miss him dearly. May God bless Debbie, Mark, and Mrs. Moon and give them peace. Eternal rest grant to him O'Lord, may his soul and the souls of all the faithfully departed forever rest in peace.

Arlos Dempsey
Signal Mountain

* * *

On behalf of the family of the late Leslie Vaughn Prater, I would also like to extend our condolences to the family of Judge Bob Moon. He was a model judge and public servant.

Judge Moon sincerely cared about the community and its residents. His death is a great loss to the community.

My personal experience with Judge Moon was very positive. He demonstrated compassion and expressed sympathy to our family in regard to Leslie's death. His kindness helped us to shoulder the burden of the disdain we received from others.

I hope it helps his family in knowing that he was so well thought of by so many.

Dr. Loretta P. Prater