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I was born in 1943 in Monahans, Texas. Ages 6-12 were spent in Notrees! I left the Permian Basin
in 1964 at the age of 21; up until that time I had spent my entire life in and around Odessa, Texas.
My working life included a five-year hitch in aviation, first as a civilian flight instructor training students
in the T-41 program for the U.S. Air Force, and later as an aircraft dispatcher for Frontier Airlines in Denver, where
I met my wife, Jane (Palmerton), Rapid City High School, SD Class of '61. I spent five years in real estate brokerage
in Austin, Texas, and nearly 32 years as a State Farm Insurance agent in Round Rock, Texas, where we raised our sons,
Erik and Leighton. I retired April 1, 2007.
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I have been an obsessive reader all my life, and I enjoy writing and learning, and I must admit that flying airplanes
has been the most dominant obsession in my life. I chose jobs not because I was in love with the profession, but instead
to give myself a chance to make an income that would allow me to fly an airplane. Even today, I find myself questioning
what I should do in order to keep flying. When my health prevents me from pursuing that pasttime, I will not be sad.
I have had a ball doing that which I love, and I will eternally be grateful for the privilege of having done what I
have done in this life.
Educational background: 28 hours short of a college degree. I have transcripted hours from seven
institutions. So little time, so much to read. Francis Bacon once said, "“Reading maketh a full man; conference
a ready man; and writing an exact man." I continue my education believing what he said so long ago. ”
Over a period of a dozen years, I wrote a memoir of my adolescent years in Odessa for my family and close
friends only. In doing that, I came to see how my peer group shared a unique decade in history (1953-1963), and
I wanted to share some of the uniqueness. We were a highly mobile and social bunch, and our circumstances created an
environment of drive-in socialability that has been stylized by Hollywood and other media over the years. Our music
is still alive and well, and our pop icons are still known to our kids. There was something special about it, and
I am grateful to have experienced it. Plus, I believe Odessa's oil prosperity in those days magnified the effects of
the times, making it a bit more glowing than other areas. In my opinion, those were Odessa's golden years, and the movers
and shakers now could do well by trying to collect and preserve some of that history. Hopefully these words can help
with that effort, if it is ever made.
In January, 2007 the Odessa American ran a three day serialized article
about Tommy's Drive-in in Odessa, Texas. I wrote those articles as a guest author by cutting a 9,000 word effort down
to 2,000 words. On this site is some of the original unedited text from that memoir I wrote for my family
and friends. I have included it on this site because in the writing of the memoir I became impressed with the uniqueness
of the '50s upbringing I shared with my age group.
~~~~Michael Lewis Moore
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