About Me
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.
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. After accumulating 3300 hours in the air I had to give it up because of health issues of a nature that presented too many obstacles with the Federal Aviation Agency. I cried like a baby after my last hurrah in an airplane. 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 with airplanes.
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
Announcement:
There are two pictures on the home page of this website that are inter-connected. Two artists were involved. The first artist opted out of finishing because of his college workload. The second artist agreed to finish it at my direction and control. In this arrangement the finished product is known legally as a derivative work of the first work. The first artist by contract conveyed all his interest to me so as to not involve any subsequent legal problems. Copyrights contain the following rights as expressed in the link below:
https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/what-are-derivative-works-under-copyright-law
“Copyright law protects original, creative works of authorship such as books, manuscripts, music, film and video productions, computer code and works of art such as paintings and photos—among other things. Authors of these works have exclusive rights to do the following with their work:
Reproduce the work
Distribute copies of the work to the public
Perform the work publicly
Display the copyrighted work publicly
Prepare derivative works based upon the work
What Is a Derivative Work?
A derivative work is a new, original product that includes aspects of a preexisting, already copyrighted work. Also known as a "new version," derivative works can include musical arrangements, motion pictures, art reproductions, sound recordings or translations. They can also include dramatizations and fictionalizations, such as a movie based on a play.
Who Can Produce Derivative Works?
Only copyright owners have the exclusive right to produce derivative works based on their original, copyrighted works. Copyright on original works of authorship is automatic, and registration—while it does carry significant benefits, like the right to sue for infringement—is not required for a work to be protected; protection attaches immediately when the work is completed.
A copyright owner can grant permission to someone else to make a derivative work based on his or her original. If permission is granted (in the form of a license or assignment), then creation of the derivative work is not infringement.
The copyright on a derivative work covers only new material, appearing for the first time in the derivative work. It does not cover any preexisting material from the original. If you license a work from its author so you can make a derivative work based on the original, you do not obtain the copyright on the original. You gain only the right to make the derivative work agreed upon; the owner retains all rights to the original and all its elements.”
Therefore, with this notice I hereby authorize your copying of my pictures on the home page of this website so as to allow the widest distribution possible to those who are interested. For others to share the memories on this website was my motive for creating the painting in the first place. Michael Lewis Moore September 2020.
