childhood

JEFF RAY MOSER was born 1/16/1940 at home on the farm on Rainbow Road. In the “First Family Home” section, Jeff describes the story passed down to him that their home burned down before he was born, so his mom gave birth to him in the smokehouse. See “Smokehouse Birth” video in the STORIES.

In the photo above, Jeff is standing on the front row on the left. His mom, Ural, is holding on to him because he was about to take off. His sister Betty is standing on the front row, right side.

Jeff was the youngest of three children. He was 14 years younger than his brother Jack and nine years younger than sister Betty.

Jeff’s school picture at the bottom was during high school. He left school early to follow his sister Betty and her husband Carroll out to Sacramento, CA where they were living. He was pretty certain that the grass was greener anywhere other than on the farm in Arkansas. In the “Letters Home” section, Jeff writes to his Mom after his three-day bus ride saying,

“Dear Mom, I got out here fine only it was 11 at nite. They didn’t know me. I think I like Arkansas pretty well now. Boy there isn’t anything to Texas, N.M. and Arizona that I like. It’s all desert. God the traffic is terrible….I got 76 cents now. Boy the stuff’s high out here. Boy you can’t fish after dark. You can’t throw paper out of the car, 25 cent fine if you do.”

Jeff’s mom kept every letter he wrote, but none were dated, so it’s unclear which came first or last, but what was clear throughout all of them was that he was homesick. Jeff grew up quickly and it wasn’t too long before he headed back to Arkansas. After his return, he studied diligently and passed his GED and was off and running and has never stopped.

He married at 19, had a child at 20, and through the last of his teen years into his early 20s, Jeff took on many different jobs to make money. At age 21 he went to work for TRW, the company from which he would retire 40 years later.