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THE MOYER BROTHERS IN ARUBA |
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SUBMITTED BY BILL MOYER |
| There were three--Clyde, Claud, and Lon, who came to Aruba in that order. Clyde was working in a small refinery in Arkansas City, Kansas, in 1928, when a friend saw an ad in a paper. The two of them applied, were accepted, took a train to Chicago (Pan Am Petroleum was a Std. of Indiana subsidiary at that time), then another to Tampa, where they got on (I think) the Paul Harwood. Dad said the other passengers heading to Aruba were mostly welders and pipe-fitters, because the refinery was still being built. Some were envisioning palm trees and girls in hula skirts, and refused to get off the boat when it pulled into Aruba, which looked more like a desert island than a tropic paradise. Clyde loved Aruba and working in the refinery, spent 32 years there. In 1932 he persuaded my mother, Margaret, to marry him and join him. I was born the next year at the old hospital at the refinery's east gate. I was their only child. We lived in Bungalow 268, on the same side of the street as the Jensen house. Dad was an avid golfer and fisherman. Mother enjoyed bowling in the early years, then playing bridge. They both enjoyed the dances at the Esso Club. |
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Shortly after
that, Claud Moyer, who had a Ford agency in Sarcoxie, Missouri, came
to Aruba with his wife Ula (nicknamed "Suze".) Claud was the oldest
of seven Moyer children born in Missouri and Oklahoma, Clyde was the
youngest. Claud liked working in the refinery but was an
entrepreneur at heart: he brought the first popcorn machine to
Aruba, in partnership with Pete the Greek! .He and Suze lived in
Bungalow 101, east of the old Esso Club, and Claud kept cash on hand
so poker players at the Club could get a "quick money" loan on the
strength of a good hand, by dashing across the street. The interest
rate, of course, was high.
The third
brother, Lon, had been to college and taught school before coming to
Aruba, becoming Superintendent of Schools in Cedar County,
Missouri. His wife's name was Mabel (she was a teacher) and they
had two daughters, Paula and Roseann. They came to Aruba in about
1942--I remember they flew down, but their household goods were on
the Bolivar when it was shelled by a U-boat. The Bolivar survived
but the Moyer's had shrapnel in their stuff when it arrived.
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| All three brothers were in the refinery the night of the U-156 attack. They climbed up the highest unit (the cat cracker, I guess) to try to see what was going on. (I have to admit I slept through most of the attack, waking up briefly and being told it was "just thunder.") |
| Claud was the first to leave Aruba. He got mad about some management decision, and returned to Missouri in about 1949. Lon, Mable, and family stayed on, and we had Moyer family get-togethers at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Clyde and Lon went to all the Thursday evening softball games together. Margaret and Mable played bridge together. Paula worked at the Army base in Savaneta after high school, before heading off to college. All three brothers were heavy smokers. Claud also took snuff. He died in his 50's of cancer in his sinuses. Lon also died young, of lung cancer. That was particularly rough on Roseann because she was about to leave for college when, all of a sudden, her Dad died and Mabel had to leave Aruba--there was no "home" to come home to, between terms. Clyde lived to the age of 80, dying here in Dallas in 1985. (Mother and Dad moved here from Missouri in 1983, and Mother died of lung cancer shortly afterward.) Paula, Roseann, and I all went to Cornell, and we all live in Dallas today. Mabel Moyer lived here for many years, but died here about five years ago. |