Celebrating Life After Work

Winter 2013
introduction would be the start of a
friendship that would last a lifetime. The
two pledged the Adelphikos fraternity
together and were both enrolled in the
ROTC program. That same month, Moore
met his college sweetheart and future
wife, Joan (McClure ’64) Moore, who he
still endearingly refers to as “my honey.”
After graduating with a degree in
business administration, Moore was
called to Vietnam and worked as an
administrator of the 14 th USAF Casualty
Staging Hospital in Nha Trang, Vietnam.
At the same time, his former roommate,
Swanson, was in flight school learning
to pilot F4 fighter jets. Despite the war’s
interruption on both their lives, Moore
couldn’t dismiss the call of the sea.
“Yep, I’m totally my own
boss, well, except when
my wife’s around.”
Moore returned to the United States in
1968 and just three years later responded
to an ad in the newspaper for a small
marina in Port Clinton, Ohio. Moore and
his brothers joined forces, buying the
small dealership and expanding it into
a huge enterprise. “We sold thousands
of boats,” Moore said. And of course,
someone had to deliver them. “That’s
when I started captaining.”
As if running a growing marina wasn’t
enough to fill his time, Moore managed
a long-term care facility for the elderly at
the same time. Even though managing the
200-bed facility was a huge undertaking
in itself, Moore found time for both
occupations. “I’ve always been a bit of an
entrepreneur, so I made ways to budget
my time between the nursing home and
the marina.”
Moore embraced retirement and the
adventures that came along with it. In
1997, he sold the nursing home, and a
year later, the marina as well. He wasn’t
ready to trade in his taste for adventure,
though, and became a delivery captain
on private assignment. That’s when
he reconnected with his roommate
from Grove City College. “It just so
happened that Doug [Swanson] made a
fine navigator, being a pilot and all, so I
asked him if he’d come navigate for me.”
It soon became a regular occurrence.
“I’d just call him up and we’d set course
for a new destination.” Moore estimates
that about half of his journeys are made
with his college friend by his side.
“There used to be a saying about Grove
City College: ‘the place where lifelong
friendships are made,’” he reflected. “I
guess that’s about right.”
But don’t question the legitimacy of
Moore’s retirement just because he still
works. Moore would say you have the
wrong definition of retirement. “The
difference is, I make my own schedule.
I take the jobs when I want them, and
turn them down when I don’t. I never let
anything interfere with my golf games,”
he said, chuckling. And besides, who
wouldn’t want a paid vacation? Moore
rattles off the perks of the job in delight:
getting flown down to the yacht, taking it
for a relaxing cruise with his close friends,
and then getting flown back home, all
while getting paid to boot. “Yep, I’m totally
my own boss,” he said, adding playfully,
“well, except when my wife’s around.”
Some view retirement as a closing
chapter in their lives. For Moore and his
“honey,” Joan, it is just the next great
adventure. “Retirement was doing what
we wanted to do.” And Moore is doing just
that. “Everyone has a list of things they
want to do before they die. When they
bury me, there’s not going to be a thing left
on that list I haven’t seen or done.” ■
Moore with his Grove City College roommate and first
mate, Doug Swanson ’64.
The Moores sightsee on one of the couple's
adventures.
the G ē D U N K www.gcc.edu | 31