Experience? We Got No Stinkin' Experience!

After four years of college, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that employers were lined up just waiting for me to offer myself as the ideal employee - educated - fun -interesting - adaptable - hard working - family man - actually an ideal catch! Guess what?

I had quit my job at the Nazarene Book Store (shipping & receiving plus janitorial) two weeks before graduation. Too much going on with the end of the school year and my college days. Now here I am with diploma in hand and out giving these companies a crack at hiring me. I was married to Ann and we had a two month old son, Rick.

EVERYWHERE I went they wanted that nasty old "Experience". After lots of interviews I got an opportunity to sell my skills and personality to C. F. Braun & Company in Alhambra. They were builders of refinery plants, asphalt plants, etc all over the globe. Very nice brick buildings with individual offices and apparently doing very nicely. I interviewed with the manager of a department that secured bids and submitted them on equipment being part of the company bid for a major project. They bid on any job over $25 million. They wanted someone to develop a system of files of various items they were needing so the buyers could review and make their selection.

I'm their man! But all of the sudden the manager said "we are looking for someone with experience and you don't qualify for this job". That did it! With nothing to lose I got out of my chair and banged my fist on his beautiful wood desk and looking him in the eye said emphatically "how do you get experience? Everyone wants it -- how do you get it?"

His next statement came out differently than I expected. He asked me if I could start on Monday! I found out that they paid once a month and that was last week! So I had three more weeks of no money for my family at a time that was critical for us.

I had my own private office with a glass door. Worked very hard for $350 a month and nine months after I was hired I found out the economics of this type of work. When they lose a job that they bid on, layoffs were the next step. Since I was the last one hired on this staff, I was first to go. They brought someone in from another department and gave me one day to train him. With one week severance pay, I was once again on my own but with one secret ability --experience!

I went to a competitor called Fluor Corporation in Maywood and was hired in the Expediting Department (because of my experience). It was our job to get the purchased materials to the jobsite on time. The job that C. F. Braun & Company lost, Fluor got. Unfortunately this job only lasted 11 months and I was once again out of work. But with "more experience".

See my posting on "50 Years Ago Today" which tells of my next job which became my career of 37 years and how "experience" helped me get $5 more a month than people hired without experience. Whoopteedoo!

Raising Cane

Celina Church Of The Nazarene - 1948

I mentioned earlier in this BLOG that I had submitted three things to Reminisce magazine that were published. This story was in the September/October 2004 issue.

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Able to Raise Cane

I lived with my grandparents in Celina, Ohio in the 1940's, My grandfather was pastor of the local Church of the Nazarene.

The church was on a large plot of land that we were allowed to farm to help put food on the table. We raised everything that would grow in that area, including sugar-cane that was turned into molasses.

We used to say that we raised cane behind the church and got away with it.

Dick Moore

Mission Viejo, California

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The picture above was taken of the church during the winter but does show part of the area around the church that we farmed. It was quite large and took many evenings planting, hoeing, and harvesting what we grew. During the 1940's many Americans had Victory Gardens to help with the family food supply. We had a garden at our home also.

Remembering Glenn Carl

Dick Moore, Glenn Carl, Dick McDonald, Jerry Ammann

I got a call today from Dick McDonald who is in the above picture along with Glenn Carl, Jerry Ammann and myself. This was taken a few years ago when Glenn visited our area and we had breakfast together with our wives. The four guys have worked together at State Farm Insurance and all retired with many years of service. Glenn had just turned 80 years old in February.

Glenn Carl passed away Wednesday in his home in Palmyra, Pennsylvania. Glenn and Mary moved there a number of years ago to be closer to their two daughters and their families. Glenn developed lung cancer which was diagnosed not long ago. It took his life quickly and that would be the way Glenn would have wanted to leave this life.

I was Mail & File Supervisor in the Southern California Division when Glenn came through my unit as a Service Trainee. This happened in January 1960 and we've been good friends every since.

Glenn was a great golfer and took me out to play in my early time with the clubs. He was with me in January 1961 when I hit the first of three hole-in-ones of my golfing career. He said it was the first one he had seen in all of his time on the golf courses. On one of his birthdays we had the First Annual Glenn Carl Open at a local course. Unfortunately, we never got to the Second Annual Open.

Glenn completed his training and became a Service Supervisor of one of the auto units. In 1969 he was promoted to Service Superintendent in the Coastal Valley Division in the new Westlake Village Office. Little did I know that the next year I would be working with Glenn in that office as one of his supervisors. I considered it a pleasure to have him as my boss. He was kind enough to give me a couple of days off so I could recharge my batteries after spending so many hours trying to get the division on it's feet. It is something I've never forgotten. In 1972, I transferred back to the Southern California Office since that office was finally running smoothly.

In 1977, Glenn transferred back to our office to complete his time with our company. He retired in 1990 with 30 years of service.

The four friends (Dick Moore, Glenn Carl, Dick McDonald, Jerry Ammann) met together for breakfast with our spouses on a few occasions which were great times. It is situations like this that makes us think back on friendships of long standing.

We were privileged to be at their 50th wedding anniversary before they left California and Glenn and Mary now have a few more added to that number. Ann and I celebrated our 50th on July 22, 2005, so we are coming up on number 53 this summer. It's great to see couples that have stayed together that long. The McDonalds and the Ammanns have long term marriages as well.

I have great memories of Glenn Carl. I will miss him.

Golden Gloves Boxing Champ?

In a previous story I wrote about working at Sears Mail Order in Kansas City my last year of high school. During the summer after graduation, I was involved in an incident with another worker that could have ended rather badly.

I was probably 110 pounds soaking wet. A fellow in my department decided he needed to take me down a notch and said he would be waiting for me after work out in the parking lot. I'm a lover -- not a fighter!

I talked to a friend I worked with and he decided that he'd spread the word that I was a Golden Gloves Boxing Champ (there are many weight divisions in this sport). This information made it's way back to the person who wanted to mess me up a bit.

As you can imagine, I cautiously went to the parking lot expecting this fellow to be there and HE WASN'T! I guess he thought I really was into boxing and would know how to take a punch and give some back. He didn't want anything to do with that.

He never messed with me again. The power of suggestion!

C.O.E. High School Class

Dick at Sears Mail Order 1952

When I was in Southeast High School in Kansas City, Missouri, I was not an interested student. If I liked a class I got A's. Like Choir and Algebra. If I didn't care for the subject, you can only guess what kind of a grade I got. I just wanted to get out of high school and get on with my life.

I had enough credits to graduate if I took only three subjects in my senior year (1951-1952). They offered a class called Co-operative Occupational Education (C.O.E.) much like ROP is today. You took the class as your last class of the day and here you discussed things that go on in the workplace. General situations at any employment no matter where you worked were discussed. I could add my two cents concerning the job I had. In the summer of 1951 I got a job at the Sears Mail Order plant in Kansas City. So during my senior year I was allowed to leave school and work at Sears from 12 noon to 6 p.m. every day. That is only 2 hours short of a full time job. During the Summer (1951-1952), I worked full time.

The picture above is one of me taken at Sears Mail Order by our school and appeared in the 1952 yearbook called Crusader.

My job was to sort packages going to the various retail stores in the area. Orders were filled in other departments and sent to our area for sorting and mailing to the retail stores.

The country was in the middle of the Korean Conflict and had the military draft. I had no intentions of going to college when the war broke out in June 1950 but as I entered my senior year, the war made you think that it wasn't such a bad idea. You could get a 2S (student) deferment if you attended college and maintained a "C" average.

During this year I decided it would be better to attend college to keep from being drafted into the Army. I applied to Pasadena Nazarene College (PNC) in Pasadena, California and was accepted. My job at Sears gave me money to start attending a private college. My 2S deferment lasted all four years and just before graduation, our son, Rick, was born deferring me because I was now a father. Thank you President Ike.

This work experience and the C.O.E. program helped me in future job opportunities. I'm glad it was offered in high school.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Is it just me or has time stepped up a notch or two in the past few years? Seems like time is going by very fast but this reminds me of something Doug Fields said in a sermon at Saddleback Church recently -- 5 minutes 20 years ago is the same amount of time 5 minutes is today! So I guess it isn't going faster -- just seems that way.

Well, it is time to add one more number to my age. It is now 74! I'd like to think of it as a dyslexic 47. I really don't feel that old and some have said I don't look it either. But what does a 74 year old look like? Not having been that before I just don't know what I should look like. Or feel like.

Here are some thoughts about coming this far:

1. I was born April 16, 1934, in Piqua, Ohio. Parents Leonard and Evelyn. I was child number 2 and our family grew to 5 kids.

2. My mother liked the name of a movie actor who was very popular at that time -- Richard Arlen. So I became Richard Arlen Moore.

3. Our father died at the age of 31 in 1940. Last child born two months later. I was 6 at the time.

4. At my age 8 our family was split up to relatives on my dad's side. My older brother, Ben, and I went to our grandparents home in Coshocton, Ohio where grandpa was the pastor of the Church of the Nazarene.

5. One year later we moved to Celina, Ohio where he was the pastor of the local Nazarene Church.

6. At age 15 I moved to Kansas City, Missouri to live with my Uncle Ray and Aunt Edith. They had one child at the time -- Kathy age 18 months. I lived 1 1/2 blocks from Ann Edwards. Attended the same church and same high school. She became Mrs. Moore later.

7. Graduated from Southeast High School 1952 and moved to California in the fall to attend Pasadena Nazarene College. Graduated from there in 1956 with a BA in Business Administration and a minor in Psychology.

8. Married Ann Edwards July 22, 1955 (after my Junior year) and son Rick was born April 10, 1956, six days before my 22nd birthday and two months before graduation.

9. Daughter Brenda was born April 24, 1959 and that completed our family.

10. Started work with State Farm Insurance Companies on March 3, 1958 and finished a career of 37 years in 1996. (Took 16 months off after 11 years there to try something else. Didn't work out!)

11. I have a wonderful wife, many friends, spent a lifetime in music, have many stories that I will relate over time here, have a wonderful family which now includes 4 grandkids - Emily 19, Eric 16, Hannah 11, and Rachel 9. Rick's Anne and Brenda's Scott joined our family and are wonderful additions. I am blessed!

Next year will be three quarters of a century. We will celebrate it up right! Look for the story about that one in a year from now. (It'll go by fast!)

Thanks for being a part of my journey.

Lunch With Ron

For those of you who know Ron Colvard, this story is for you. For those of you who have never met him, you've missed a lot. We've known Ron since the late 1980's.

Ron Colvard is a very talented musical genius who can play anything on the piano, does arrangements, directs orchestras, gets incredible music out of choirs, and is a friend of ours!

We had lunch with him in San Diego Balboa Park Saturday before a musical play production matinee at The Old Globe Theatre which Ron is the Associate Conductor/Keyboard in the orchestra. He literally plays incredible pieces for over 2 hours. The keyboard has other instruments along with the piano and he has those to do as well. Ron is in his element!

We saw "Dancing in The Dark" which starred Scott Bakula who we remember from the Murphy Brown TV show. I didn't know he could sing and dance! Several times in the show they sang "That's Entertainment" which always gets you in a good mood. The original movie starred Fred Astaire. You can close you eyes and see in your mind Fred doing the dance steps and singing. A very enjoyable production which closes next Sunday. We're glad we took the time to drive down and see it and especially had time for lunch with Ron.

Ron was the director of Masterworks Chorale which Ann and I had the pleasure to be a part of for 18 months. He was our choir director in two churches for a number of years also.

YouTubes and Links

You will notice that I have a few new things on the right of the screen. My son, Rick, helped my BLOG by setting up some things for you to view and go to other links.

1. There are two YouTube items that Emily did during her high school concert. One is on the piccolo called "Pennywhistle Jig". This is a fun piece and very quick. How does her fingers fly that fast? The other is on the flute and called "Concertino". It's a little longer but a beautiful piece if you have the time to listen to it. Just click on the picture and make sure the sound is on your computer.

2. The third item is one of the Crimson River Quartet's number called "Echos From the Burning Bush". It's a fun song that the quartet does in concerts.

3. There are a couple of links listed below that for you to get to the Crimson River YouTube numbers. They have 41 on the internet now and are getting a lot of hits. Check out a couple of them.

4. The link to CrimsonRiver.com will get you into the site and you can read about the upcoming concert on April 26th at 7 p.m. Be sure to put that date on your calendar and attend if you are in the local Southern California area.

5. There is also a link to "HolyCoast.com" which is my son Rick's BLOG. He comments on political items and current events. Check it out.

There is so much I don't know about the internet and computers in general. But with a son who is quite knowledgeable on these things and a son-in-law that knows the computer inside out, I get done what I need to get done.

Disneyland With Emily

In the 1980's and early 1990's our entire family had Disneyland Annual Passes with parking. We could go at any time we wanted and stay as long as we held up. A lot of times we just met for dinner and maybe stayed for the fireworks. We also liked to sit and people watch. You do see people you know walk by.

In October 1988, Emily (our first grandchild) was born. When she was three weeks old, she went to Disneyland for the first time. When she turned three years old she got her own pass. Disneyland was always a place she loved to go and take the many kid rides. Plus see the parade and have those in the parade wave and talk directly to her. She was quite a cutie (as you can see by the picture) and they noticed her. Of course she didn't mind. She loved the attention.

One day I called her home and asked her mother if she could take the afternoon with Papa and go to Disneyland. Her brother, Eric, was just a baby. I took a half day off work and picked her up. Just Emily and Papa. Nana was teaching first grade and couldn't get off for things like Disneyland.

So here we are driving down the 5 Freeway heading to Disneyland. Of course Emily (age 3) was in the back seat fastened in as she should be. As we were traveling down the road, she said "Are we going to have fun or what?"

You know something? We did! Took in all the kid rides and probably had an ice cream cone to boot. What a great memory that made for me and I hope she remembers it as well.

[Emily is now 19 and a freshman at Sonoma State University. Her annual pass has expired.]

In The Beginning - The Watchmen Quartet's History

The Watchmen Gospel Quartet announced their "retirement" last year to be effective at the end of 2008. As of September 2007, this group had successfully completed 36 years of Southern Gospel Quartet music to thousands of fans. I know something of their history as I was a co-founder and original bass singer for the group in 1971 when it started. Here is how it all began.

In the summer of 1971, at Garden Grove Church of the Nazarene, a Music Committee, led by myself, discussed what "specials" we would have for the Sunday morning and evening services. It was our job to fill the calendar with music specials and we decided it was time for the church to have a male quartet. I had sung in quartets since I was 15 years old and Dennis Zimmerman had just arrived at the church with an interest in Gospel Quartets from back East.

Dennis and I selected the choir director, Ken Pratt, as lead and Roy Scott as baritone. I was a bass singer and Dennis was a tenor which rounded out the voices needed for this group. The organist for the church, Pat Bounds, agreed to play the piano for us. We practiced a number and selected a Sunday evening in September to sing our first song, "God's Grace" also known as "Marvelous Grace Of Our Loving Lord".

Our music was straight out of the hymnal. We stood around two mikes and sang the song from the hymnal. The congregation loved it! And so did we. So we selected another number and spent the time in between our assigned times to practice that one. I believe we did it by memory. That started a regular once a month quartet number and we kept on adding numbers to our memory for future opportunities.

Dennis had a friend in Glendale who worked at a local church there. They were having a missionary conference during a week in February 1972 and he asked Dennis if our quartet could come and sing on a Tuesday night for the people. That started a "traveling" ministry and we needed to find a name. Tried calling ourselves "The Messengers". We found out there was a popular group back East called "The Messengers" and we didn't want to be confused with them. The program at the conference listed us as "The Basor Gospel Quartet" suggested by Dennis' friend. Basor meant messenger in Greek. At one of our practices we threw out names for consideration and finally accepted "The Watchmen Gospel Quartet". Little did we know that the group (with many personnel changes) would still be going in 2008.

Dennis is the only original member remaining with the group. There has been occasions through the years when he has called former members to come up and sing a song with the guys which brings back wonderful memories of great times. The original four guys were on the Homecoming program January 2006 singing our "first" song once again and from the hymnal! It was the 35th year of the Watchmen and was fun to participate in that program.

The Western States Quartet Convention this year will be held in Fresno May 1, 2, 3. On Saturday afternoon they will have a "Watchmen Quartet Tribute" which Ann and I will attend.

I was the bass singer, historian, and treasurer for the group from September 1971 to November 1982. In 1983 the members of the quartet included our son, Rick Moore, moving from bass guitar to bass singer replacing his dad. During my time with The Watchmen, we made four vinyl records along with cassettes. Each record has 12 songs on them. CDs weren't out yet or DVDs and video recordings. I would estimate we sold 10,000 records. Not bad for a local group.
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In 1992, Rick formed the Crimson River Quartet which has been singing for 15 years now. They are having a 15th Anniversary Concert at Lake Hills Church in Laguna Hills, CA on Saturday night April 26th at 7 p.m. It will be a great night of music with guest artists. You can find the information by visiting http://www.crimsonriver.com/ .

Our New Heroes

One of the golf magazines I receive is called Partners Magazine. I joined the Partners Club and this is their magazine given to club members. Tom Lehman is the Club President. He is a Pro Golfer.

In his column in a recent issue he wrote about "My New Heroes" concerning his trip to Iraq to visit the troops on behalf of the PGA TOUR. I thought it was good enough to share with you.
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President's Letter

My New Heroes

I am writing this article as I sit in a comfortable chair looking out over a beautiful lake toward a magnificent palace built by a very bad man. I am writing this while under the protection of some incredibly good men and women, whom I had the humbling honor of spending a week with last November. The palace is in Baghdad, the builder a man whose name need not be written, and the good people I am proud to call friends serve in the United States military. They are the greatest Americans I have ever met.

It's not every day that you fly to Ramadi in the morning, to Taqaddum in the afternoon and spend the night in Fallujah. It's not every day that you meet companies of Marines, soldiers and seamen in remote places like Hit, Korean Village, and Haditha Dam, all shaking your hand and saying thank you for coming to Iraq.

It's not every day that you get briefed by a two-star general on the state of the war and the ongoing mission of our military. It's not every day that you get to correct the commander of all multi-national forces in Iraq when he thanks you for being here. "No, sir," you say, "you have it all wrong. It's us who are thankful for all YOU do." It's not every day you get to feel this proud to be an American.

It's because of the PGA TOUR and the recognition we get that David Feherty, Howard Twitty, Joe Inman, Butch Harmon, Tom Watson and myself were invited to spend Thanksgiving in Iraq. I'm here because I play golf. It's because I'm an American that I am writing about this topic with this simple message: We Are Winning!

In 2006, Ramadi was said to be the most dangerous city on earth, with no hope of achieving peace. Today, our military leaders walk down main street, rubbing shoulders with the local population, without body armor and without fear. There has not been an attack on the base in Fallujah in more than nine months.

There are many reasons for the change, but at the very top of the list are the courage, persistence, integrity and intelligence of our people in uniform. This magazine is about golf, but I'm compelled to write about what I saw and the people making it happen. I respect them and am in awe of them. They are my new heroes. I love these men and women. They inspire me, and all I can say to them is ---Hoo ah!

God Bless you, my friends, and may God continue to bless America.

Tom Lehman, Club President
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There is a lot of talk now about Iraq and our need to get out. I believe that if this would happen now that the next step for the attacks would be on our shores. We fought a 4 1/2 year war in the 1940's and we still have bases and troops in Japan, Germany, and Italy. That war ended 62 years ago! Korea Conflict came next in 1950 and ended in 1953. We still have troops in Korea for 55 years now. I don't understand why the urgent need to get out of this conflict when civilization as we know it could change drastically. In five years we have lost 4,000 of our military personnel. Any loss of life is too many. But in 1944 we lost that many in one day at Normandy. Yes, it is a different day and time but we need to "see the big picture". Some people just want to hear the sound bites and stir up people in mass hysteria. I'll write more about this later. Thanks for listening.

YOUR COMMENTS ON MY POSTINGS

It's been a while since I have received any comments on any of the postings. Any one out there?

You do not have to set up a Google account in order to leave a comment. It's not hard to set one up but many of you won't want to do it. So what you need to do is to move the dot to "anonymous" which is just below your comment. You will have to enter some letters for security -- just copy what you see. Then click on "Publish Your Comment". The comment will then be shown on the left and I will be able to read it along with anyone else reading the post and comments.

You will have to identify yourself at the end of the comment if you are using "anonymous". If you set up a Google account it will identfy you. Please sign your name.

I really want to hear from you. Did you like what I wrote? Do you have something to say concerning the topic? Have you had an experience like it?

If you have been unsuccessful in posting a comment, please try again.

Thanks for reading my BLOG.

April Is Birthday Month In Our Family

Many families have a particular month that a lot of their family has birthdays. Ours is April. The first one this month is on the 10th and belongs to our son, Rick Moore. He was born just six days before my 22nd birthday, April 16th. Next comes Brenda's big day on the 24th.

Brenda is taking a trip to a small island in Indonesia this month called Sumba. She does the computer work for the Sumba Foundation and they asked her to go on this trip with the wife of the founder. They will be gone from 4-13 to 4-26 thus spending her birthday on the trip. We're proud of her for giving of her time for this charity and for spending her own money to take the trip. We know that Scott, Hannah and Rachel are also very proud of her.

My older brother, Ben, was also born in April -- the 21st. He passed away at the age of 31 in 1963 just one day after his birthday. Had a heart attack.

This month is also Rick & Anne's 21st wedding anniversary. That will be on April 4th. Happy Anniversary, Rick & Anne. They were blessed with two children, Emily and Eric (our first grandchildren).

We're proud of our family. Can you tell?