When Phil Moye placed an angel on the Hospice House Angel Tree at Crossroads Mall just before Christmas, he did it to honor his father.

“Earlier this year, my dad, Bill Moye, was cared for by Hospice of Southern West Virginia,” Moye told the crowd that had gathered to place angels on the tree in memory of lost loved ones. “My dad spent his final days at the Bowers Hospice House.”

Moye, now 45 years old, grew up in Raleigh County and described his father as a man who had all of the great characteristics that people talk about across the country when they talk about southern West Virginians.

“He grew up tough and was very independent, but at the same time he was very selfless and kind-hearted to others,” Moye said.

While growing up in Daniels on C&O; Road and attending Shady Spring High School, Moye said his father was a major influence in his life.

“Dad was a builder, and throughout his life he built homes for families right here in Raleigh County,” Moye said. “He never knew anything but hard work, and through good times and bad he always made it on his own.”

His mother, Sarah, worked in the school system, and he grew up with one brother, Greg.

“He is about five years younger and he works at an electronic parts plant at the Airport Industrial Park,” Moye said.

In early 2008, Moye’s father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

“He was 76 years old and there was nothing doctors could do to cure it,” he said.

Moye said for the first time in his life he watched a strong man get weaker and become unable to make it on his own.

“Soon, Hospice workers were at his home helping our family to care for him,” Moye explained.

As his dad’s condition worsened, he was moved to the Bowers Hospice House for additional care.

“He spent his final days there,” Moye said. “The care he was given was so wonderful, I know he didn’t want to be anywhere else in his final hours.”

Moye said those associated with Hospice do more for those in their final days and their families than they could ever imagine.

“For Hospice workers it’s more than a job, it’s a purpose,” he said. “My family could not thank them enough for all the kindness, care and comfort that was given to my family during our difficult time and time of need. I truly believe there are angels among us and many of them are associated with Hospice.”

Moye graduated from Shady Spring High School in 1981. He attended Concord College and graduated in 1985 with a degree in commercial art and advertising. He earned his graduate degree in the late 1990s from West Virginia University with a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA).

“I worked for a small advertising agency in Bluefield, Va., for about five years,” he said. “The company was called Professional Advertising.”

In 1990, he came back to West Virginia and took a job with Appalachian Power marketing heat pumps.

“It was located in Charleston,” he said.

Moye has been with the power company ever since.

“I worked in marketing at the John Amos Power Plant in the visitors center and did tours and public information services,” he explained. “I always thought growing up I would have a career in art, but I get to design a logo sometimes and design stuff for the company newsletter, so I guess I get to do a little art stuff sometimes.”

Today, Moye is the company’s corporate communications manager and his name can be read in newspapers and heard on television and radio informing the public about power outages that affect Appalachian Power customers.

“When the lights go out, the media contacts me,” Moye said. “I want to give them the most updated information so the public can know what’s going on during a power outage.”

Moye says the biggest misconception the public has regarding power outages is that they presume the power company always knows when a customer’s power goes out.

“I think the public thinks we have some type of big switchboard that lights up when the power goes out, and that is really not the case,” he explained. “What we rely on the most is people calling in to tell us that their power is out.”

Moye says power outages have many causes.

“There’s wind, ice and snow, lightning, animals, trees that grow into or fall over onto power lines, construction damage to underground lines, traffic accidents affecting power poles, equipment failure and more,” he said. “Major storms or other natural disasters sometimes cause major outages ... affecting a large number of customers over an extended period of time.”

In general, Moye says Appalachian Power defines a “major outage” as one that lasts more than 24 hours and requires the assistance of utility crews from outside the local area.

Moye also does a lot of internal work with the company’s newsletters and other communications types of things.

“This gives me the opportunity to see all the aspects of our business,” he said.

Moye said Appalachian Power is a large and diversified company, and like Hospice it gives back to the communities it serves.

Just before winter officially began, Appalachian Power announced that the company and its stockholders were doubling contributions to heating assistance programs in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, providing $210,000 to help low-income customers pay winter heating bills, according to Moye.

Moye says Appalachian Power serves about a million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee. Its headquarters is in Charleston, with regulatory and external affairs offices in both Richmond, Va., and Charleston.

Appalachian Power is part of the American Electric Power system, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states.

“AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S.,” Moye said. “AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.”

Moye added that AEP’s transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas.

He said AEP’s utility units operate as Appalachian Power in West Virginia and Virginia; AEP in Ohio and Texas; AEP Appalachian Power in Tennessee; Indiana Michigan Power in Indiana and Michigan; Kentucky Power in Kentucky; Public Service Company of Oklahoma in Oklahoma; and Southwestern Electric Power Company in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas. AEP is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

— E-mail: fpace@register-herald.com