Tom "Soupy" Moohr

John  Wason

Tom "Soupy" Moohr was my co-editor of the feature page in the school newspaper, and without his marvelous stories the feature page might have been pretty dull reading. I respected the heck out of him, and so did a lot of others.

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  Morgan Park High Great guy. And very funny. You remember how he started that thing of popping people on the back with your palm? It swept throughout the school.

  
  
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  Susan Engle Budash Soupy passed away many years ago...decades.

  
  
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  Sharon Shepardson Avny I was close to Tom for years. After high school I only saw him at Christmas.  He was exceptional.
  
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  Lorraine O'Malley We dated briefly; I remember him as a lovely person who, despite his outgoing and joking nature, was quite shy, even insecure. He told me he hated that nickname and asked me to always call him Tom. RIP, gentle soul.
  
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  Jim Seamon My mother was friends with Mr. Moore for years.  I was his longtime friend

  
  
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  Judy Halligan Willingham  Tom was a smart, funny, kind person.

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  Jim Seamon The last time I saw Tom was when I was about to go off to Vietnam and I was saying my goodbyes to the staff and regulars at Ye Olde Times on 111th Street where I had worked as a bartender as I finished my M.A. Tom and I spent a long night reminiscing, catching up, and drinking a few beers. I was struck by the fact that he seemed to be searching for meaning in his life, or maybe just his own identity. Tom's older brother and sister were very smart high-achievers and Tom wasn't into that competition so he became more of a class clown type (his nickname "Soupy" was given to him at Mt. Greenwood due too his resemblance--both physically and behavior-wise--to Soupy Sales, so that became a kind of a "stage name" for him). Lorraine is correct as to Tom really was kind of a shy kid underneath all the entertaining bravado and humor. I remember he asked me that night how I could seem to be "so normal" even though I was about to go to Vietnam. I told him there wasn't much I could do about it so I figured I'd just face things as they came. He said something like, "I wish I could be more like that." I wish he could have been, too.

  
  
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  John Wason 

  The thing I remember about Soupy, apart from his regular feature page column, was that he was practicing some sort of mental and physical discipline that reminded me of Indian yogis. He claimed that he could hypnotize himself in such a way that he could hold his hands in a fire for 30 seconds (or some such time frame) and not be burned. He showed me his hands, which were not burned. I was mesmerized, and not a little impressed. Soupy was big and strong and looked (to me) many years older than I was. I felt flattered that he would even deign to talk to me, let alone consider me his peer on the Empehi News. I thought he had everything in the world going for him - rather like Ken Roberts and Jim Hayner.
   
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  Karen Holck Ketterman Some times when people seem to have everything going for them, They really have nothing and are really sad inside. You would be surprised how many people live in pain but don't show it and use humor to cover it up.

  
  
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  John Wason I probably would, because I wear my heart on my sleeve and people don't like it. They want a "happy camper."
  
  But it's not true that the people we're discussing "had nothing". They simply perceived, for whatever reason, that they lacked whatever it was that they thought they needed.
  
  

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    Kristine Lang would you be kind enough to post this on the Empehi group page as well? thx.

    
    
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    David A McLain Soupy. I still remember the articles he wrote on the Feature Page for the Empehi News. Very creative.

    
    
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    Christine Leo He was always fun to talk to.

    
    

    
    
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    John Wason I don't know how he could have been my co-editor on the feature page if he graduated in 1966. Could he actually have been in the class of January, 1967? (Or December 1966? I don't remember how that worked.)

    
    

    
    
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    Susan Engle Budash John, I think Soupy graduated in Jan. 67, because I remember him working with us on the scenery committee for Bye Bye Birdie. Every day was a hoot painting that scenery....Soupy had us in stitches.

  
  
  
  

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  Milton Supman aka Soupy Sales                                                               
  

  

  
  
  Comedian and actor
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soupy_Sales