Since that time Mike has become a great friend and Rodney has gone to be with The Lord. Rodney died in a traffic accident in the block of Sayles on Thursday, April 29, Thanks to retired APD Officer Richard Valdez for providing a little help for me on the names of the current motor officers.
I knew Mike Ricker and Terry Monroe. My memory is getting short so Richard came to my rescue. Kelly Willis, a former motor officer is the hit and run investigator. I was born in January of in Abilene, Texas. When I was two or three years, my dad moved the family to Eastland, Texas for a short period of time, most likely not more than one or possibly two years. While in Eastland, he worked in a drug store owned by a member of the Vletas family I think his first name was Spiro , well know in Abilene for candy making.
The drug store had an old time soda fountain and a candy counter. I often visited my dad at work and a soda fountain and candy shop was heaven for a little boy. A service station near our house rented motorcycles. One day, my dad rented a motorcycle and we rode for several hours. That is when I became hooked on motorcycles. I started drawing pictures of motorcycles. That is where the seeds of becoming a motor officer were planted.
After we moved back to Abilene in , I started watching my uncle J. Veteto and my childhood hero, J. Woodard riding Abilene Police motors, the dream really took off and started to grow. During my Junior High years, my uncle Roert Sterling lived with us. He owned a LaRay Powercycle which was made in France. It looked much like a Service Cycle or Simplex, but it had. This made it a rather funny looking machine. I rode the LaRay for many, many miles.
Next my dad purchased a used Salsbury motor scooter for me. The Salsbury was extremely big, heavy and awkard. I did not ride it very long before I became disgusted with it and sold it. My ownership of a real motorcycle, a Harley Davidson WLA military motorcycle did not occur until or My boyhood dream had been to become an Abilene Policed Officer, not just a police officer, but a motor officer.
