ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Murrell has been well known, well respected, and has made a lot of friends since 1935 when he came to Shreveport, Louisiana, to attend Centenary College. He is a person who loves to start a business from nothing and work it into a success. When it reaches its potential, he gets tired of it and sells it - for a profit, of course. Then he starts another. He has done this over and over since 1935. 

Some of his many ventures have included auction barn operation, dairy farming, livestock service, plantation management, boarding stables and rental horses operation, Pony Land for children, and loose livestock man for the Shreveport Police Department and the Caddo Sheriff's Department.

It really sounds like one man couldn't do all of this in one lifetime. However, most of his life he has had three or four irons in the fire at one time. For instance, he was a Constable in Caddo Parish for 19 years with no opposition at election time. He has been a Justice of the Peace for the past 12 years and still performs weddings. He has been dubbed by some of his friends as a "man of many functions." In addition to the above, he has always been involved with a herd of beef cattle on the side. He is now and has been for several years, involved with the City of Shreveport in a hay-cutting contract. Although he is 79 years young as of July 1996, he is "semi-retired"! He still buys and sells horses for his customers (including several generations of many families) who have called on him for years. 

With so many of his businesses involved with horses - boarding, renting, and Pony Land - it used to be somewhat of a joke about how many children he helped raise. He and Mom had four children of their own, but he helped raise hundreds in Shreveport around his riding stables. To this day, he receives calls daily from some of the children he was in touch with over the years who now have children and grandchildren of their own. In some families he has taught three generations to ride horseback. 

He writes to The Shreveport Times quite often, and as far as I know, all of his letters have always been printed. Dad is so well thought of that not a day goes by without someone calling him for advise. He is truly a remarkable man and has lived a remarkable life.