The Rev. Reid Moon, right, offers a prayer to Christin Albert and her granddaughter, Sierra Albert, of Harmony, as they approach the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier replica after a ceremony at Four Corners Park in Zelienople in 2022. Butler Eagle File Photo

Usually the act of driving a school bus is a rather thankless task. But for the Rev. Reid Moon, his quarter-century of driving a bus in the Seneca Valley School District has brought memories and friendships that have persisted long after Moon left the district.

On July 9, Moon will rekindle many of those friendships by holding a reunion with dozens of the same students he drove to school decades ago. The event will take place at the McDanel’s Boat Launch Pavilion 7 on the North Shore at Moraine State Park in Muddy Creek Township.

Moon anticipates close to 60 of his former students will attend.

“Of course, at this point, most of them are married and they have children,” Moon said. “So it really is a reunion for the former bus kids and their families.”

Moon spent 26 years transporting children in the Seneca Valley School District. From 1991 to 2017, he was the first adult many of them spoke to when they left home for the day, and the last adult they spoke to before they returned.

During that time, he drove students to Evans City Elementary and Middle School, as well as Ryan Gloyer Middle School and Seneca Valley Intermediate High School.

“Some of them ... we would have connected on Facebook. I try to keep an open door as far as friends on Facebook,” Moon said. “Other students would have called me five or six years after they graduated.”

Other former students reached out to Moon through his other career, as pastor at the Zelienople Church of Christ, where he served for 28 years and only recently retired. In some cases, Moon did far more than reconnect with former riders — he officiated over the weddings of at least 20 former Seneca Valley students.

Moon left the district in 2017 to focus on his full-time job at Boylan Funeral Home, which has locations in Evans City, Zelienople, Cranberry and Renfrew. He splits his time between all four areas, and his new position has kept him busy.

“I do about 80 funerals a year for families who don't have a church,” Moon said. “Boylan wants there to be a service for those families, so I’ll sit down and find out what kind of service they want.”

Moon also served on the Seneca Valley School Board for a time.