I'm Frank Newman.
Harold played a major role in my life. I need to say some things about me as a preface.
Harold gave me my first job out of UT Law and as a licensed attorney. He hired me in November 1973 for the princely sum of $11,900.00/yr. I had a dog, car, motocross race bike and a job! I thought I was rich!
My memory fails but the crew at NTCA was Harold, Jim and Shirley. All were the nicest people you would ever want to know and work with. Harold had hired them so they were like Harold.
I less than two months I had a pretty bad crash at a motocross track in Mosier Valley. Not paying attention on the last lap of practice, I slopped over the one side of the track with a big jump and jumped into a tree. Smashed my left foot. After a slap dash repair, I went the following Monday and stayed at it for a couple of weeks. The repair didn't work and then I had to start a program of surgery/in-hospital; home recuperating; back to surgery; repeat. Mr. Moore visited me, of course.
This had gone on several weeks when he came to the hospital and told me the Board of Directors could not pay me anymore. I totally understood. He said, however, that he would hold the job open for me! More hospital/recuperation etc. Finally, I made it back and had a great welcome by a happy crew. I know Harold talked the Board into holding the job open. He could not have known, because I did not know, how long it would be. But, he got them to wait.
NTCA was formed under a law that allowed all the major commercial contractors in Dallas, Tarrant and surrounding counties to work together to negotiate with the Building Trades Unions. Otherwise, it would have been an anti-trust violation for the companies to agree among themselves on wages, hours and working conditions they would let into the labor contracts. All the contracts expired at the same time and there were months before and after of negotiating and fussing and fighting. Lockouts and strikes. It was wild. NTCA, under the incredibly experienced guiding hand of Harold Moore got it done.
There came a time when Harold fell about three feet off a ladder while painting his house. I visited him in the hospital. He had steel rods through his tibia and femur with cables on each end of each rod leading to weights through a pulley system. It was horrible looking. When I walked into his room he was grinning as ever and started making self-deprecating jokes. It was a terrible injury and he was under a lot of paid but didn't show it and certainly did not ask for any pity. He was brave.
Before NTCA, Harold had been a labor negotiator for General Dynamics for years. He would entertain us with stories of his battles with the Machinists and other tough unions. One was that sometimes, before an arbitration hearing, he would put a thin wire lengthwise through the middle of a cigarette or two (people smoked in hearings and trials back then). During the hearing he would be smoking and a long, long ash would form - the entire length of the new cigarette. People would start paying attention to Harold's cigarette waiting for the ash to fall off instead of listening to what the union guy was saying and miss the whole union story!
After all the union contracts and resulting legal fights were over, we were set for several years and there was really no place for me. If Mr. Moore asked me to stay it would have slowed my career. If I had tried to hold on, it would have been a waste of NTCA money. I knew it well before Mr. Moore brought it up. He agreed to let me stay on until I found a new job - which I did. I got a job as Assistant General Counsel for one of our big members. I know Harold put in a big, strong word for me.
Mr. Moore was a great guy, smart, creative, insightful and just a great boss. To know he is gone leaves a big hole in my soul.