Mr. Moler 2.0

  The Honorable Edward H. Moler was an amazing man. He was Oklahoma City's City Attorney for years, and he went into private practice at a fairly young age, making partner and then branching out on his own.  For years he worked hand in hand with other city municipalities and when I met him in 1994, he was in fact the City Attorney for the City of Nichols Hills.  At the time of my employment with Mr. Moler, as his paralegal and secretary, he had only two clients.  He had the City of Nichols Hills, and a large concrete company called Dolese Bros. Co.  If you're from the Southwest of the US then you have at least seen the big black trucks with the darker green rotating barrels that read "DOLESE" in bright yellow.  Having two (2) and only two clients was enough for Mr. Moler, and therefore he didn't feel that he needed to step up to the 20th century when it came to technology. The phone worked fine, and he knew his way around a pen and paper.  Then he hired me.

    The way I met Mr. Moler was in fact a fluke. I walked into his office on the 28th floor of the old Ramsey Tower at 204 N. Robinson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. When I walked in to leave my resume with the lady up front I realized that she was in tears. I asked her if I could help and she said I could. She asked if I knew the older platform type printer, or if I knew how to manually force the old typewriter ribbon in place. I told her I did! I sat in her chair and helped fix her immediate need, and upon doing so she excused herself to go to the bathroom.  Several minutes passed and she hadn't returned. I didn't feel comfortable leaving the office unattended as Mr. Moler had not come into the office at that time.  The phone rang and I was relunctant to answer it. It wasn't my phone.  After it rang a few times I answered "Law Office" (a standard greeting) and it was the SECRETARY!!  She said to me, "OK, I'm leaving, I'm not coming back, but Mr. Moler will be in around 10 and you can tell him yourself that I quit.  You can also tell him I won't pick up my check as it was only for two days and I didn't do anything!"  I told her would let the man know when he walked through the door.

    Promptly at 10:00 a.m. a tall, very handsome, astute man dressed in an expensive suit and polished shoes walked through the front door.  I looked up and smiled. I introduced myself as "Jude, your new secretary. Your other one left this morning and she said she won't expect a check."  He stared at me. He said a few words regarding the check, then he asked if I had any experience. My answer was "Obviously you have far more experience as an attorney than you do as a secretary as these machines are next to ancient. They are about to break, and by break I mean I am about to have them carted off to a museum.  Yes, I have experience, and to prove it I will need your credit card."  I stayed with the man for nearly 16 years.

    I stopped working for Mr. Moler full-time in 2002. I continued to work with him as a consultant and fill in for the next 8 years.  He more or less retired after 2002, and I was there to keep things rolling until all of the court dates could be settled. Two of those events took several years to pass; that happens when the owner of the largest concrete business in the Southwest decides to cut his kids out of the will, and then it's contested.  Mr. Moler handled the entire affair with grace and dignity even if the man who owned the business was a putz deluxe! Not more can be said for the wife and/or his darn kids, but sometimes money can cloud a person's good judgment. (Not Mr. Moler's, but you know what I'm saying)

    It only took a few months to train Mr. Moler correctly, he was a fast learner.  I miss that man so often. I'll see something that reminds me of him and I'll wish I were back on the 28th floor again with him just staring out the windows using his military binoculars. We had so much fun watching the prisoners being transported from the jail to the courthouse, and watching presidents and others as they gave speeches downtown. I couldn't get him to slide down the spiral galvanized steel fire escape in the building, but I and my kids went down it a few (OK a lot) times. He was so former I giggled and asked him if his grandkids called him "Mr. Moler". He said they did! LOL. (He was kidding.)  Besides being an amazingly immaculate person by nature, he was pristine in all of his behavior.  He was not only a referee for the Oklahoma Supreme Court, he was the Chief of his Native American tribe for years.  Mr. Moler was my FAVORITE boss, and that's saying something since I worked for James Garner too! (Yes, THAT James Garner)

    Well, now I get to start all over again!  I have accepted a job with a man I won't name, but I will say that he's a great Christian man who owns his own business and needs a good office manager.  Unlike Mr. Moler, he knew and knows that he has to keep up with technology.  His past secretary has trained him very well. She and I talked today about his continued education, and he agreed to be as cooperative as he can be. He's 100% ready to be assisted and given the best opportunities to move forward. That is EXACTLY what I do.  I don't need to fly high. I need to help others fly as high as they can, and I'll be underneath to catch them, teach them, train them, help them, and watch them aspire to their top goals.  That is my top goal as an office manager.  I am also going to be his Claims Adjuster, which is in and of itself an honor.  It allows me to be in control of the office and be useful to his future success!

    This is gonna be GREAT!  It's not on the 28th floor -- just the 2nd, and it's not in the same area, but it is in a great place and I will be among really good folks. God is great, and HE IS KING!  The really cool thing is, not only was (is) Mr. Moler born again and I'll see him in Eternity, but this new guy is also a Christian man, and we had so much to discuss today other than work.  He asked if I can stay until Jesus comes back, and I agreed to do so since that's not really that long!

    Thank you God. Just, Thank you!

Chief and Hon. Edward H. Moler. (1923-2016)