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A LOVING TRIBUTE TO ESSIE MARSHALL MOORE
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He was one of the greatest men ever...
He was my uncle.
He had a tender heart.
What a thing to say about someone.
He was born in 1915, in hard times
Out there twenty miles north of Lamesa
On a cotton farm near Punkin' Center.
It was an old house, with gray boards
For outside walls, and no insulation.
The parents and six kids lived there.
His heart had been forever touched by God
When he was a boy.
If ever a man loved God, it was he.
God had come into his soul one day
And forgave him, and lived there from then on.
And God put a song in his heart
That never went away.
Coming from an Irish family, the O'
Who landed in
He was blessed with the Irish talent
And love for singing.
His own dad wrote songs, led singing schools,
And church revivals, all over
The big thing is that he was given a clear,
Sweet, beautiful first tenor voice---
The kind so scarce and in demand
For male quartets.
One time, about 1919, during the Great Flu Epidemic,
His whole family was down with it,
Including my own father;
Out there on that lonely farm,
A long way from anywhere...
And neighbors brought soup and food
And left it on the front porch.
He married in 1936, and though I was only
Two and a half, I was there when they
Came back from their honeymoon.
I can remember that big old black car.
He lived in Lamesa a number of those
Depression years, and he was in a male quartet
At theFirst Baptist Church
Dozens and dozens of funeral there
And around the area.
He came toClovis
The laundry delivery man for the
Magic Steam Laundry, run by my dad.
I often tagged along with him in the
Laundry's old white panel truck,
Delivering clean laundry to motels,
Cafes, barber shops, the hospital, and wherever
We needed to.
A freehearted and most generous man...
He loved kids and always tried to have
A sackful of little one cent candy bars,
Like Baby Ruths, O Henrys, Hersheys,
Jaw breakers, suckers, and some Double Bubble,
When kids were around.
That was partly why I liked to help him deliver.
He made it his business to always have candy
For little me.
While working inClovis
They met every day at noon at the Fox Drug
At Fourth andMain ; a piano had been placed by the front door
And they sang there or out on the sidewalk
For fifteen minutes each day at 12:45 p.m.
On KICA Radio.
On December 6, 1941, we closed the laundry early---
A long way from anywhere...
And neighbors brought soup and food
And left it on the front porch.
He married in 1936, and though I was only
Two and a half, I was there when they
Came back from their honeymoon.
I can remember that big old black car.
He lived in Lamesa a number of those
Depression years, and he was in a male quartet
At the
Dozens and dozens of funeral there
And around the area.
He came to
The laundry delivery man for the
Magic Steam Laundry, run by my dad.
I often tagged along with him in the
Laundry's old white panel truck,
Delivering clean laundry to motels,
Cafes, barber shops, the hospital, and wherever
We needed to.
A freehearted and most generous man...
He loved kids and always tried to have
A sackful of little one cent candy bars,
Like Baby Ruths, O Henrys, Hersheys,
Jaw breakers, suckers, and some Double Bubble,
When kids were around.
That was partly why I liked to help him deliver.
He made it his business to always have candy
For little me.
While working in
They met every day at noon at the Fox Drug
At Fourth and
And they sang there or out on the sidewalk
For fifteen minutes each day at 12:45 p.m.
On KICA Radio.
On December 6, 1941, we closed the laundry early---
Essie's family and our family
All went home to Lamesa. I don't remember why.
We went in one car and it was crowded.
On returning toClovis
December 7, 1941, we stopped at an old filling station
We went in one car and it was crowded.
On returning to
December 7, 1941, we stopped at an old filling station
in Lubbock
There was 14 cent gas, and an old cold drink case, out front.
Essie went into the station to get some candy
For the kids, and came back with his face pale,
And said to Dad, who was wiping the windshield:
"The Japs have bombed Pearl Harbor,
and theU.S.
I remember that...like yesterday. I remember thinking...
What are the Phillippines?
He later returned to his "home" at Lamesa
And resumed singing with his old quartet.
In 1948, we had a new Chevrolet.
Sitting in it on Sunday afternoons,
With the radio on and the antenna up,
I picked up his quartet broadcast each week,
Listening to Lamesa Radio... 150 crow miles away.
When I went off to college in 1951, and was
In theHardin-Simmons University
And was taking private voice lessons from our
Esteemed director, Dr. Euell Porter, a tenor,
My Uncle Essie drove down from Lamesa toAbilene
And also took private lessons for a semester.
Dr. Porter knew of the Lamesa quartet, which was
Known all over that area.
He took a hungry college boy out to eat a number
Of times, and I had my first banana split, and
First shrimp dinner.
One day he pressed some bills into my hand
And said: this is for high school graduation.
Essie went into the station to get some candy
For the kids, and came back with his face pale,
And said to Dad, who was wiping the windshield:
"The Japs have bombed Pearl Harbor,
and the
I remember that...like yesterday. I remember thinking...
What are the Phillippines?
He later returned to his "home" at Lamesa
And resumed singing with his old quartet.
In 1948, we had a new Chevrolet.
Sitting in it on Sunday afternoons,
With the radio on and the antenna up,
I picked up his quartet broadcast each week,
Listening to Lamesa Radio... 150 crow miles away.
When I went off to college in 1951, and was
In the
And was taking private voice lessons from our
Esteemed director, Dr. Euell Porter, a tenor,
My Uncle Essie drove down from Lamesa to
And also took private lessons for a semester.
Dr. Porter knew of the Lamesa quartet, which was
Known all over that area.
He took a hungry college boy out to eat a number
Of times, and I had my first banana split, and
First shrimp dinner.
One day he pressed some bills into my hand
And said: this is for high school graduation.
It was twenty-five dollars!
I had no radio and didn't want to squander the money,
So I went to Ward's and bought a radio, which I still have.
One time, much later, when my dad was in the hospital
InLubbock
Big motel expenses, Essie came to visit, and on leaving
Pressed a rolled up bill into Mother's hand.
It was a hundred dollar bill.
When he and and I talked on the phone,
He always wanted to harmonize,
Over the phone and I did too!
He died of cancer when he was 78, after he made
One final trip to his home of many years---Lamesa.
Before passing on, he said: "It has been a good life...
and I am ready to go."
So I went to Ward's and bought a radio, which I still have.
One time, much later, when my dad was in the hospital
In
Big motel expenses, Essie came to visit, and on leaving
Pressed a rolled up bill into Mother's hand.
It was a hundred dollar bill.
When he and and I talked on the phone,
He always wanted to harmonize,
Over the phone and I did too!
He died of cancer when he was 78, after he made
One final trip to his home of many years---Lamesa.
Before passing on, he said: "It has been a good life...
and I am ready to go."
One of the most tender-hearted and free-hearted people
who ever lived. A man who was a credit to the earth.
There is one particular quintessential quartet number
That will always remind me of Essie...
It's hard to keep a dry eye and hear it...
The first-tenor part was made for him...
"I will meet you in the morning by the bright riverside..."
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I Will Meet You in the Morning
I will meet you in the morning on the bright riverside,
When all sorrows have drifted away.
I'll be standing at the portal with the gates open wide
At the close of life's long, dreary day.
Cho: I'll meet you in the morning with a "How do you do?"
And we'll sit down by the river, and with rapture, old acquaintance renew.
You'll know me in the morning by the smile that I wear.
When I meet you in the morning in that city that is built foursquare.
I will meet you in the morning in the sweet by and by,
And exchange the old cross for a crown.
There will be no disappointments and no body shall die
In that land where life's sun goeth down.
I will meet you in the morning at the end of the way
On the streets of that city of gold,
Where we all can be together and be happy for aye
As the years of eternity roll.
Bill Gaither Vocal Band:
BY MIL
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Sent from my iPad
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