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Moyers, William Taylor

About | Abstract

About

Details the consultant's life and his career as a Western artist.

Interviewee William (Bill) Taylor Moyers, male, born in 1916
Date Range 1916-2000
Date & Location April 4, 2000, Consultant's home in Albuquerque, N.M.
Project Rural Lifeways
Region North Central New Mexico
Number of Tapes 1
Transcribed May 23, 2000
Download Abstract

Abstract

Tape 1, Side A

Moyers was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1916. At the age of fourteen he moved from Georgia to Colorado where he was employed as a ranch hand and rode horses. His family, the Moyers', came to America in the 1730's and settled in Pennsylvania. One branch of the family moved to Georgia before the Civil War. His mother, Sarah Branches McKenna, was of Scottish ancestry. Both of his parents were born in Georgia. They were married in 1914. His grandfather, father, and brother were all lawyers.

Mr. Moyers graduated from high school in Mosca, Colorado, and attended Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado. The consultant also attended Ottis Art School in California. He worked at the Disney Studio for a year, 1939-1940. Moyers taught school in Colorado for two years, then volunteered for the Army in the spring of 1942. He served in the Signal Corps for four years. Initially he was stationed in New Jersey. Then after he became an officer, he was sent to New York with the Army Photographic Services. Eventually he was sent to the Philippines where he ran a film exchange.

He and his wife, Neva Anderson, knew each other in Alamosa. She was one of the first ninety-eight women commissioned into the WAVES. She was stationed in Washington, D. C. While he was stationed in New York they got married in March 1943. In 1946 they bought a home at Martha's Vineyard, and in 1947 they moved to Georgia to be near his mother. During this time he worked as an illustrator. In 1962 the Moyers' moved to Albuquerque. After the consultant moved to Albuquerque, he focused on the production of Western art, and no longer worked as an illustrator.

He has participated in many art shows over the years. He works in bronze as well as watercolor and oils. He has always been able to sell all the artwork that he produces.