Ralph James “Jim” Moeller was born in Rock Rapids, IA on September 19, 1947 to Ralph and Carol Moeller and soon moved to his Mother’s hometown of Ridgewood, NJ. Jim and his younger brother Jeff grew up in Ridgewood, graduating from Ridgewood High School in 1965. Jim had a love for football in high school and was also involved in many other school activities such as junior class cabinet, prom committee and future physicians. Jim was the principal candidate for his congressional appointment to West Point from New Jersey.
West Point classmates, particularly roommates, are all smiles in remembering “Ralph” James Moeller (he preferred “Jim” but roommates are not so kind). Jim, however, was not a happy fellow when it came to that point in time when he realized his efforts to make the Army football squad were just not going to be successful. Rooming with two classmates who did “make-the-cut” for the Army Football Team did not help. However, Jim’s buoyant attitude would not be deterred, and he converted what may have been exceptional enthusiasm on the fields-of-friendly-strife into the most supportive and very best cheerleader-incognito approach you could possibly imagine.
Not making the Army Team did not stop Jim from playing football including, intramural football in Company B-3 and in the annual Goat-Engineer Game. Yes, his performance in academics qualified him to play for the Goat Team his cow year and he was a standout. However, a muddy field that day changed Jim’s entire Army career. During the game Jim injured his back and was hospitalized throughout the Thanksgiving break. The back injury was serious enough to put him on a medical profile and made him ineligible to be commissioned in the combat arms.
Four years and four sets of roommates per year made many of his classmates get to know him as easy going and one who just never let the “little things” get him down. It was very fitting that Jim spent his first two years in Company B-3, where he adopted and lived the company motto of “Casual Professionalism.” Jim always had a smile and encouraging word, so said his classmates. He was on the Ring and Crest Committee and in  the Fine Arts Forum. As it turned out, he drew from the experiences of his cadet years and wrote in the Class Legacy Book for the 45th Reunion “. . . as I look back through the prism of many years, it is impossible to quantify the number of times when our training and education have influenced the outcome of events in my life.”
Upon graduation on June 4, 1969, Jim was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Transportation Corps. After completing the Officer Basic Course, he went to Germany for his first assignment at the U.S. Army Movements Control Center in Oberurse. During his three assignments he supported U.S. transportation operations at the 1972 Olympic Games and attended Boston University extension classes, accruing credits toward a Master of Science of Business Administration, which he received shortly after returning to the United States. As a result of an auto accident, Jim also brought back from Germany a lifelong love for BMWs and became an avid advocate of seat belts.
Following completion of his Germany tour in 1973, Jim was assigned to Fort Hood, TX until his resignation from the Army in 1974. His decision to leave the Army was partially due to his back injury and his inability to serve in a combat branch. His first civilian job was with Exxon in Atlanta, GA in 1974, where he was a regional sales manager. He was promoted and transferred to Macon, GA in 1976 and was transferred again in 1977 to Houston, TX. After working for Exxon for eight years, Jim made a career change and decided to enter the financial services industry, and he became a Certified Financial Planner, which became a 30-year career. As a financial planner he worked as a general manager of Paul Revere, the president of a branch of a national brokerage firm, and a financial consultant for Shearson Lehman. In 2011 he started up the Outlook Financial Group in The Woodlands, TX.
However, it was outside of his professional life, through volunteer activities and, above all, his family, where he found the most in his life. Jim married two wonderful women in his life after West Point. Right after graduation he married his classmate’s sister Mary Leister. They had two sons, Jeremy and Gregory, and grandson Beckett. He later married Cindy Moeller and gained two stepsons, Cody Lee and Kyle Lee. Jim remained very close to all in his family.
Always the volunteer, Jim was chairman of a children’s charity and served on the Houston area USO’s Board of Directors. He salvaged and spearheaded what is now an annual golf tournament for the USO that continues to carry on his legacy for what is now the major part of the USO-Houston’s annual fundraising effort.
Jim said he was not especially spiritual, but the words that guided him the most over the years came from the Cadet Prayer. While he did not mention a specific passage, I believe foremost in his mind was the passage, “Encourage us in our endeavor to live above the common level of life. Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be content with a half-truth when the whole can be won.” He encouraged us to re-read the Prayer since it embodies everything we hope to be. Jim lived his life by this admonition.
— B-3 and G-3 classmates Roger Balog, Ken Johnson, Jim O’Toole, Bob Glacel, and Mike Jones