Cliff Moses

Rochelle Township High School

Class of 1960

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Cliff Moses - Class of 1960 - Rochelle Township High School

First Name	Cliff
Last Name	Moses
Graduation Year	Class of 1960
Gender	Male
Current Location	New Braunfels, TX
Hometown	Rochelle, IL
Relationship Status	Married
About Me	Physically, I am in good health except for my eyes; I have been legally blind for about 10 years due to glaucoma, which we didn't catch in time. Professionally, I consider myself very fortunate; I had a career rather than a job. After leaving graduate school, I was offered a position at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, TX to develop a high-pressure combustion laboratory to simulate a gas turbine engine. With this I was able to study the effects of fuel properties and chemistry on the performance and durability of aircraft engines, e.g., ignition and exhaust smoke. This broadened over the years to include other non-combustion issues such as lubricity, materials compatibility, and thermal stability. This research was mostly funded by the US Navy and NASA as well as some of the aircraft engine companies. I retired from SwRI after 35 years, mainly because a faculty position was opening up at a local university; I had always wanted to teach but never had the opportunity. I taught in the Mechanical Engineering Department for two years before my eyesight began to fail and I needed some surgery. At the time i retired from SwRI, I was offered a consulting contract with the US Air Force to support their effort to develop and approve new jet fuels produced from renewable resources rather than petroleum. Because these fuels could have different properties and chemistry, my previous experience was very useful for this. I also did some consulting work for the US Navy on similar issues for both aircraft and ship gas turbine fuels. This consulting work continues, but on a limited basis due to my vision. Simultaneous to my professional career, I also had a musical career. For about four years, I played guitar and sang in restaurants around San Antonio. Then in 1982, the few of us that were interested in folk and traditional music began focusing on Irish traditional music under the mentorship of an Irish priest that had moved to San Antonio. Four years later, in 1986, we went to Ireland to compete in the All-Ireland music competition and won first prize in the category of Instrumental groups. This got us into a lot of major Irish festivals around the US for about 9 years. During this time we produced 4 cassettes and 2 CDs of our music. In the band, my primary instrument was the hammered dulcimer, along with some work on the concertina. In the 1990's, I competed several times in the All-Ireland in solo competition earning a third and two second-place awards. As a result, I was invited to teach Irish music at a number of hammered dulcimer festivals. I produced two CDs of Irish music on the dulcimer and concertina. When I turned 70, I decided to learn how to play the fiddle as a retirement project figuring it would be a good challenge for the memory and coordination, and maybe postpone "old age". The fiddle is one of the major instruments in Irish music, so this would also expand my repertoire. I found an Irish lady in Austin that taught Irish fiddle; she had been the fiddle player in River Dance for two years on their international tour. I have been taking lessons from her for 6 years now, and that is the main occupation of my time. One last thing: My dream car has been a Morgan sports car. I now own a 1966 Morgan +4. I can't drive it, but I can ...(read more)