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Mooney -- William Conwell Mooney, 81, passed away Tuesday, September 29, 1998. Bill was born July 20, 1917 in Oglesby, Texas. He moved to Floydada, Texas in 1923. Red graduated from high school in 1936, where he played football, basketball and track. While attending school he was a member of the Future Farmers of America for three years. In 1936, he attended Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, NM on a football scholarship. Bill transferred to New Mexico A & M (now New Mexico State University) in Las Cruces, NM in 1938, where he graduated on January 15, 1941 with a major in Vocational Agriculture Education. Red took a Vocational Agriculture and General Science teaching job in Las Lunas, NM in March 1941. On June 30, 1942, he entered the US Army and took his basic training at Camp Roberts, CA. Bill then taught school to a group of illiterate students for eight months at Camp Brutner, NC. He wrote letters home for the students because all they knew was how to play cards and dice. Red then became Cadre with the Thirteenth Airborne. He stayed with them and went overseas January 1945. Bill went to ETOC European Theater of Operations in England, France and Germany. He also spent some time as a Glider pilot. Bill left the service in 1946 and took a job with Superintendent Earl Nunn of Des Moines, where he taught Vocational Agriculture and General Science. He then went to Roy, NM in 1947. Red moved to Springer, NM in 1948, where he taught Vocational Agriculture and Drivers Education. He would spend many extra hours with his FFA students who won many state contests because of his caring ways. Many of the students taught by Bill would become future teachers in New Mexico. Mr. Mooney retired in 1977 from teaching and then spent many hours at the Springer Senior Center playing pool and dominos. The center has lost a very special person and faithful participant. He was preceded in death by his parents, William Cooper and Deliah Susie (Griffen) Mooney; sister, Dora Williams Lyles; brothers, NB (Nazareth Byrd) and Billy Griffen. His cousins, Byrd Terral (Buster Mooney), Farmington, NM and Jo Beth Walker, Lubbock, TX survive him. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Alderette and Pomroy Funeral Home, Raton, NM for burial in Floydada, TX. Bill requested that memorial contributions be made to the Springer Citizens Center. A memorial service will be held at the First United Methodist Church in Springer, NM on October 10, 1998 at 10:00 a.m.
        Published on: Sun October 04, 1998