Thomas L. Moore

Thomas Lee Moore

July 18, 1951-December 5, 2023

Thomas “Tom” Lee Moore passed away peacefully on December 5, 2023. Respected by his peers, Tom worked for decades as a substance use and mental health counselor, using his own experience with recovery to help hundreds of people live healthy and meaningful lives. His key professional achievements include starting the first men’s group in Grand Rapids for survivors of sexual abuse, leading a men’s recovery program at Sanford House, and working as a professor at Western Michigan University.

An educator at heart, Tom earned his MS in Alternative Education at IU Bloomington and interned at the Grand Rapids Public Schools. He taught at the Mi-Gi-Zi Youth Conference, a Native American school in Grand Rapids, and participated in the historic Longest Walk for Native American rights in 1978, walking on foot from Pennsylvania to Washington, DC. A natural healer, Tom was a protégé of Virginia Satir, the “mother of family therapy” and used her teachings as well as NLP, Ericksonian strategies, Narrative Therapy, and EMDR to train many others in recovery best practices.

Tom lived a life in service to helping others heal, with a career spanning such areas as Alcohol Outpatient Services, the Center for Family Recovery, West Michigan Addiction Consultants, Life Guidance Services, Proaction Behavioral Health Alliance, and Cherry Health Services. He culminated his career with his own practice, Two Moons. Tom provided advice to Sanford House as they developed their residential recovery center, and was one of the original developers of the men’s recovery group. An Indiana University graduate majoring in Political Science and Spanish, Tom was passionate about Hoosier basketball and was proud of his years coaching little league. In addition to his dedication to mental health, Tom embraced a whole-health model in his own life through such practices as swimming, vegetarianism, and meditation.

Born in Bloomington Indiana, Tom lived his early years in Brown County, Indiana where his father ran a grocery store. Tom completed his later schooling in Columbus, Indiana, where he met his lifelong friends Dennis Hearne, Margie Boilanger (Thayer), Mike Mosier, and Bill Peabody, and graduated from Columbus High School in 1970. He was an Order of the Arrow Boy Scout and part of the Columbus High wrestling team. Tom is preceded in death by his parents, Merril and Louise Moore (Crane) and his beloved wife Connie Moore (Miessen). Tom is survived by his children Christopher Moore-Vissing of Exeter, New Hampshire and Quixada Moore-Vissing of Thomaston, Maine, his sister Judy Hill and brother-in-law Troy Hill of Westport, Indiana, brother Jerry Moore and sister in law Kathy of Columbus, Indiana, in-laws Diane and Butch Weeda of Grand Rapids, Michigan, as well as nephews Tyler Hill (Jennifer) of Reno, NV, Justin Hill of Greenwood, Indiana, Matt Moore of Columbus, Indiana, Kay Don Weeda (Wendy) of Grand Rapids, MI, and niece Christin Prokopy (Rob) of Grand Rapids, MI, and in-laws Beth Hanning (Kevin) of Gilbert, Arizona, and Lou Anne Chipman of Overland Park, Kansas, and many grand nieces and nephews.

Those interested can contact the family at storiesabouttom@yahoo.com with stories to share or to learn details about a memorial ceremony. In lieu of flowers and to honor Tom’s role as a compassionate provider to individuals with substance use disorders and mental health conditions, his wise mentoring of fellow clinicians and lifelong dedication to learning and innovating in the area of treatment, donations can be made to the Sanford Foundation, 15146 16th Avenue, Marne, MI 49435 or to Trillium Woods Hospice Center, where Tom spent his final days, at https://faithhospicecare.org/donate/.