Tom graduated from Wachusett Regional High School. He received a B.A. from Clark University, an M.A. from Northeastern University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut in Storrs, all in English. He lived an adventurous life of traveling, teaching, and writing, emigrating to New Zealand when he was 20 years old to work on a dairy farm in Te Awamutu, exploring Samoa, Fiji, Manu’a, and Tahiti on his way. He joined the Peace Corps and taught English in Tabriz, Iran. Next, he taught in Istanbul, Turkey. Tom and Leslie joined the Peace Corps together and taught in Bamako, Mali. Finally, they taught together in Pendik, Turkey. In the United States, Tom taught at Wachusett Regional High School in Holden, Massachusetts, where he coached girls’ tennis and led two student trips to Russia. He also taught at UConn, Boston University, and Maine Maritime Academy in Castine. When he was 25 years old, he wrote in his journal, “The best teacher is first well prepared, and second has a sense of humor. Nothing else really matters.” He is well remembered by many of his students.

Tom grew up learning carpentry from his father and built three houses in Windham, Vermont, Princeton, Massachusetts, and Brooksville, Maine. He heated his houses with wood which he harvested himself from the surrounding forests. He loved twitching logs and splitting wood with a maul. He loved sailing on Penobscot Bay and owned a small flotilla over the years, including sailboats, motorboats, and a red canoe. He kept vegetable gardens for most of his life and often fed the neighborhood with his produce. He loved his dogs—Pepper, Berkeley, Roger and Tess, Kinsey, and Rumi. He enjoyed a sip of scotch on occasion, played a passable game of tennis, and never turned down a game of Scrabble.

In retirement, Tom and Leslie moved to Belfast, Maine, where Tom served as Belfast Poet Laureate and founded The Wheelbarrow School of Poetry (a critique group). He wrote six books of poems: The Bolt Cutters, Chet Sawing, Saving Nails, Red Stone Fragments, Stones, and Unleashed. Two of his books were finalists in Maine Literary Awards competitions, two of his poems were featured on Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac, another poem was featured on Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry, another on George Bilgere’s Poetry Town, and his poem, “How We Built Our House,” won the prestigious Pushcart Prize. Tom was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Tom is survived by Leslie, his wife of 43 years; his sister, Nancy Orlando of Worcester, Massachusetts; his brothers Peter Moore of Oakland, California, and Charles Moore of Burlington, Vermont; and many nieces and nephews.

He is predeceased by his parents; his older brother, Dennis Moore of Princeton, Massachusetts; and his two children by a former marriage, Alexandra and Joshua Moore.

Tom and Leslie are full of gratitude for the Hospice care they received at the end of his life. 

Gatherings in his memory will be scheduled at a future date.

Memories and condolences may be shared with the family at www.ripostafh.com.