Charles Moore of Yaphank: 'Social butterfly' was a longtime AAA worker
Charles Moore made friends everywhere he went. Credit: Moore family
Charles Moore made friends everywhere he went.
The counter guy at the local pizzeria, the fan sitting next to him at the Yankees game, the kids he served breakfast to at Tremont Elementary in Patchogue. Moore was a friendly man who just loved people, his family said.
“He was a social butterfly,” said Lola Moore, his wife of 50 years. “He had all that love and respect and care for people who touched his life.”
Moore, who lived in Yaphank, died April 28 at Long Island Community Hospital after battling COVID-19 for three weeks, his family said. He was 72.
Moore was born Aug. 20, 1947, in Philadelphia. He was nine when he met Lola at a parochial boarding school, though the two did not start dating until running into each other at a reunion when he was 17 and she was 16.
The two married in 1969 and moved to Long Island 10 years later after Moore took a job with the AAA automobile club of New York. He worked 41 years there as a travel consultant before retiring three years ago.
Moore kept busy in retirement, working an additional job serving breakfasts and helping out with the children at Tremont elementary school. He also pursued an interest in modeling and acting, appearing as an extra on The People’s Court. He loved listening to music, volunteering at church and cooking for a group home for people with developmental disabilities. One of his favorite things to do was to go to Smith Point beach with Lola and listen to '70s music.
“He had a lot of interests,” said his daughter Domenique Moore, 35, of Yaphank. “There weren’t a lot of people here who liked sports as much as he did, so he would go to Yankee Stadium alone to watch a baseball game and make friends there. He made friends with everyone. Everyone knew him.”
Moore had been planning a 50th anniversary trip to Hawaii with his wife when he got sick. He was admitted to the hospital on Easter Sunday.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Moore is survived by two sons, Dante, 48, of Tampa and DiJon, 39, of Port Richey, Florida.; his mother, Josephine Moore-McFadden, 92, of Allentown, Pennsylvania.; his twin brother, Ronald of Allentown; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Moore was buried on May 11 at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Center Moriches. A memorial service is being planned for later.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
