GMS History The History of Greenbrier Military School | Page 9
Military Academy in Virginia in 1903-04, instructor of Latin and Greek at the
Bingham School, Asheville, N.C., 1904-05, and principal at Midway High
School, 1905-06. Then he came to Lewisburg as principal of the Greenbrier
Presbyterial School, where he also taught math (GMS Catalog, 1920-21).
The Rev. Joseph M. Moore earned his A.B. from Washington and Lee
University in 1908. He was an instructor in ancient and modern languages
at Greenbrier Presbyterial School, 1908-10. He earned his B.D. from Union
Theological Seminary in 1914, and then returned to GMS to teach Bible and
philosophy.
D.T. Moore was the business manager at GMS. Although he attended
Washington and Lee University, he was seriously considering a banking career
when it came time for his brother J.M. to go to college. Family finances dictated
that only one college tuition could be paid at a time, so Joe started college. D.T.
took a business course before starting work at a bank in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
After ten years of banking, D.T. left his job as auditor at National Exchange
Bank of Roanoke, Virginia, and came to GMS in 1912.
Priscilla Moore wanted to attend the Lewisburg Female Institute, so
when her brother H.B. accepted a job in Lewisburg in 1906, he brought all
his sisters and his mother with him. Priscilla and Katherine had been
teaching in Virginia before the move. Mrs. Ida E. Moore and the girls soon
moved into an apartment in Lewisburg. As he made plans to start a military
program, by 1909 H.B. needed an assistant. He advertised for a military
officer with a college education, and the only applicant was a lanky,
footloose South Carolinian who had just graduated from The Citadel and
needed a job. So Clarence McMurray signed a contract to teach and help set
up a military program; he coached football at the Presbyterial School in the
fall of 1909. Clarence, a charmer, dated Miss Katherine and Miss Willie,
but it was Priscilla who captured his heart. Soon he asked Mrs. Moore if he
could take Priscilla on a buggy ride. She gave her permission, but big
brother Houston wasn’t so sure. The afternoon grew long and Clarence and
Priscilla did not return. It was a beautiful fall day, and as they headed up
toward Muddy Creek Mountain, they were happily talking and laughing
and just kept going. The sun sank behind the mountain as the young couple
traveled west. H.B., as head of household and protector of his younger
sisters, furiously gathered a posse of some thirty men on horseback to go
search for Priscilla. As the men reached an overlook, they saw the buggy
slowly wending its way down the mountain road. When H.B. met up with
the buggy’s occupants and demanded an explanation, Priscilla cheerfully
told him that they had gone over the mountain to view the sunset, without
realizing that the sun was setting on the home side. Since it was very nearly
dark, H.B. concluded that Clarence was not a suitable escort for his sister. In
the early spring of 1910, the Army called Clarence. He was a commissioned
Second Lieutenant so he had to go. By breaking his contract with H.B. and