Judge Bob Moon's Impact On Young Lives

Judge Bob Moon's sudden death leaves so many people with mixed emotions. Of course there is sadness for his loss. But so many people like Lora Liles said they feel blessed Judge Moon made a positive impact on their life.

"I'll just say that I was on a bad path and I had made some poor choices that got me before Judge Moon," Liles said.

Liles gives full credit to Judge Moon for who she is today. We won't go into the details about her past life, but lets just say that on more than one occasion she stood before him and she realized he understood the circumstances in her life that got her in trouble.

"It wasn't so much what he did, or the sentence that I was given, it was basically what he said to me when I was before him," Liles said. "I thought everybody was out to punish me and he said Lora, I'm not out to get you, I'm not out to punish people."

Liles said Judge Moon made her understand that people are responsible for their choices and that life is all about choices.

It is Moon's childhood that shaped him as a person and later as a judge.

"Oh I think it was a direct correlation, Judge Moon told people all the time that he was a bad little dude as a young person," Boys & Girls Club of Chattanooga Executive Vice President Debbie Gray said.

Raised in East Lake, the younger Moon found a mentor at the Boys Club of Chattanooga who pushed him to finish school.

It changed his life. Moon went on to graduate from U.T.C. and then-Memphis College School of Law cum laude. Moon was among the first Boys Club college scholarship recipients.

To give back Moon was among the Club's greatest supporters, advocates and board members.

"Judge Moon was so passionate about this organization he would be the first, I think, to tell anybody about his experience and growing up in the club," Gray said.

Judge Moon noticed how many young men did not dress for court, wearing clothes too casual or tattered. So he started the annual Tie Day Program with the Boys & Girls Club, where men who are leaders in the community bring a tie to a luncheon.

"We would match them up with teenagers and these adults would teach them how to tie ties, which ,as you have got to understand, most of our kids come from single parent, female head of households and there are not a lot of men in their lives," Gray explained.

So many people like Liles are thankful Judge Moon made an impact on their life.

"Everything has changed for me, my life back then was not a good one, I was on the wrong path and what he said has helped me turn my life around," Liles said.

Services for Judge Moon are set for 3:00 p.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church. Burial will follow at Hamilton Memorial Gardens