ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- "Teach a youth about the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6)
In 1951, Robert Mosley Jr., now 80, took a short break from working outside on a hot summer day to look around the site where the U.S. Air Force's Air Engineering Development Center was taking shape. Arnold existed more on blueprints than in concrete and steel as buildings, roads, piping and water lines.
"It [AEDC] was nothing but woods, [when] they cleared that land up while I was working there," Mosley recalled. "I worked for Boyle Construction Company - they hired me from Tullahoma's union hall - and I was working where they were laying pipes, train lines, water lines and things like that. I sealed [pipes and steam lines] inside when they put those in the ground. Some of those pipes, they were so big, you could stand up in them and walk in them and some were so small you had to crawl through."
Even after he had moved on to a 23-year career with the Marquette Cement Company in Cowan, Mosley returned to do more construction work at AEDC during the flight simulation complex's formative years.
"We were digging some of those ditches, some were 21-feet deep," he said. "I never had seen anything like that before. I helped to build AEDC from the ground up, with J-6 (Large Rocket Test Facility) and ASTF (Aeropropulsion Systems Test Facility)."
Mosley didn't know it at the time, but he had started something of a family tradition. All but one of his children ended up working at AEDC over the years. Early on, Mosley also began another tradition, particularly among the men in the family, when he joined a local chapter of the Negro League, the baseball organization that existed before segregation ended.
"I used to coach baseball," he said. "When [my son] Jeff started playing ball, I saw he had a whole lot of talent and I kind of got hooked up in it where I could help him. Then the rest of the boys just came along and just took to it."
Another son, Scott Mosley, a storekeeper at AEDC, recalls how baseball was a family tradition and that family included more than blood relatives.
"It was kind of neighborhood thing," he said.
Another thing that has united the whole family from the beginning to the current day is a rock solid work ethic, according to Serbrinne, Robert's younger daughter, who had worked for AEDC's payroll department as a timekeeper and now works for contracts in the Jacobs Technology office in Tullahoma.
"My parents and my grandmothers were my role models," she said. "My dad had always worked. In fact, sometimes he worked two jobs. When he finished his regular job, he would go work another one.
"My dad's work ethics have been a role model for me. My parents and my grandmothers told me that your word is your bond and always do what you say, be honest, and pray to make the right decisions."
Looking back on the years since their father helped to lay the foundation for what became AEDC; the family has a lot of memories to share.
Dwight, the oldest son, was the next family member after his father to join Arnold's work force. After serving two years in the Army, mostly in Germany, he began his career in 1972 as an apprentice graphic reproduction specialist. He also served in the Army National Guard for 22 years, deploying overseas and supervising radio repair and teletype units.
Dwight is now the custodian of all the blueprints of testing facilities, warehouses, offices and a host of support buildings owned by the Air Force on more than 4,000 acres of the approximately 40,000 acre base.
Looking back on a career spanning close to four decades, Dwight said the thing that impressed him most when he began working at AEDC was the number of people here.
Originally part of a group of 12 people, he is now the only one working in Real Property with approximately 80,000 blueprints and drawings under his care.
He is often the first person the design engineers and planners call when a change is being considered or planned for a building or other infrastructure on base.
Dwight, like his father and siblings, has had his time at bat, so to speak.
"I started umpiring back in probably 1973 or so," he said, but added that being a catcher was always his favorite position in the game. "I played Babe Ruth baseball back in the early 1960s, when they first integrated baseball so we could play it. So I had already played baseball and I always played sandlot ball with my dad."
For many years now, he has continued to umpire local high school and regional baseball teams.
Jeff Mosley, the next oldest in the family, originally considered going pre-med in college, but a family friend, John Cunningham, who was a human resources specialist at AEDC, talked the young man into giving engineering a shot.
Armed with a sports scholarship, Jeff attended Tennessee State University for an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and played collegiate football, basketball and baseball.
From 1973 through 1982, he worked off and on as a coop student with an engineering design group at AEDC's von Kármán Gas Dynamics Facility. Jeff said the mentoring he experienced at Arnold paid off.
"I presently work for Sikorsky Aircraft in Huntsville as a technical component integration lead engineer,"
When asked about his ties to AEDC and the surrounding area, he said, "You always have a lot of memories, a lot of people who were there, who stayed there and those people who passed away."
On March 13, 1979, Maverick became the next member of the Mosley family to come to AEDC.
He said he was originally planning to follow in his brother, Jeff's footsteps and become an engineer.
"I was going to follow in his path," recalled the 51-year-old boilermaker. "So, I was going for electrical [engineering] and I went on to college at Tennessee State [University]. Then I decided that it wasn't for me.
"I liked working with my hands. I was just getting ready to go back to college to continue my engineering and this job came open - an apprenticeship [position] came open and I got into it. I did a four-year apprenticeship out here on the base."
He said this was the last such class AEDC had.
Maverick said an earlier experience at AEDC left a strong impression on him.
"During my senior year my electronics class came out here and did a tour of the base," he recalled. "I was just amazed by [what we saw]. We went to VKF and PWT and they showed us all the models and were telling us how they came here from Germany. I was amazed to learn about the background of how this place got started."
When he first came to AEDC, there were 31 boilermakers at the Model Shop.
"I'd say probably it's only about, maybe 10," Maverick said, adding that he is also a member of the union council's grievance committee.
He said only more recently did he take the time to reflect on how AEDC has impacted his family.
"You don't really think about it until you step back and look at [your life]," he said. "Of course my family all had a part in this."
The next member of the Mosley family to come to AEDC was Scott, who started in August 1981 helping in the base's post office.
When he graduated from Franklin County High School the year before, he wasn't sure what path to follow regarding a profession.
"As far as a job, really didn't [have an idea] what I'd do," Scott said. "I had always loved playing baseball, but knew that wasn't going to be a career. So, I guess I was kind of out there, kind of looking and hoping."
He vividly recalls his first impression of AEDC when he first started working here.
"I thought it was a big place, it was just like another world," he recalled.
Scott has seen everything pass through the warehouses at AEDC, from aircraft engines to ducting, huge drum cameras to software and component parts so small they almost get lost in the palm of someone's hand. It's been his job to make sure all of this hardware and equipment was safely stored, accounted for and tracked until needed or required somewhere else.
"The biggest challenge out there right now is keeping up with the excess property coming in, you know, keeping track of it, [ensuring] it's leaving out properly and making sure that when people turn it in, it's the right thing."
What he described almost sounded like an endless treasure hunt.
"Yes, [it's like that] almost every day," he said. "Every day down there somebody is looking for something."
However, Scott said one highlight of the job is something more personal.
"I've met so many different types of people. Just like down there where I work, when somebody retires you think about them every day. I wonder how he's doing today - because it's like family."
Serbrinne vividly remembers her first day of work at AEDC.
"I started working at AEDC with Calspan on August 8, 1988," she said. "I will never forget that day, when I was filling out my benefits information the lady told me that I should never forget that day because it was 8-8-88."
Serbrinne first worked as an office assistant before bidding on and getting a position in payroll as a timekeeper.
Like many high school students, Serbrinne wasn't sure about what career to pursue when she graduated.
"I knew that either I needed to go to college or get a job," she said. "Fortunately, I completed accounting and typing classes in high school."
Looking back, Serbrinne said she enjoyed meeting all of the people she came into contact with through her job on base.
Her life is full, both at work and during her free time.
"I volunteer in the community whenever possible," she said. "I work in my church - Mt. Olive Primitive Baptist Church. My hobbies are planting flowers and helping the elderly and sick and shut in."
Last month, a young man representing the next generation of the Mosley family at AEDC started working part-time at Arnold's finance office. Scott's son, Robert Mosley, who is a 'stay in school' student, a freshman at Motlow Community College, is now working as a general clerk, filing requisitions, updating Excel documents, etc.
Enrolled in a general studies course load at Motlow, Robert wants to pursue a career as an athletic trainer for high school or college sports teams. He said basketball has been his sport of choice, his favorite position on court being power forward.
"I just started helping coach at South Middle School, with Daniel Wiggs," he said.
Marie, the older daughter of Robert and Jeanette Mosley, is the only member of the family who hasn't worked at AEDC.
She said that has given her an opportunity to see the bigger picture.
"I think Arnold Air Force Base has given my family a wonderful opportunity to work and live close to home," she said. "Living in a rural area, it is not always possible to work in the same community you grew up.
"Being a product of Robert and Jeanette Mosley has given me, my brothers and sister a strong foundation. Our parent's instilled in us what the Bible says are God's principles, His purpose for the family and our life. My parents believed and took seriously their responsibility for teaching their children what was right and wrong.
"We did most things as a family," she said. "We played ball and games as a family in the yard. My father coached my brother's baseball teams. The entire family went to the ballgames.
Speaking about her values, she said, "We were taught to study and work hard in school. My father worked hard, most times two jobs. On weekends my father took my brothers hunting and fishing. My mother taught my sister and I how to cook, sew and take care of the house. My mother was a stay-at-home mom until my older brother went away to college. She quickly realized it would take two incomes for the children to pursue higher education."
Asked why she never pursued a career at AEDC, she replied, "That wasn't what the Lord had planned for my life. After graduating from high school, Motlow Community College wasn't my first choice. However, it is where I ended up."
After graduating from college, she landed a job there, where she has worked for more than 25 years.
She appreciates how AEDC has played such an important role for the other members of her family. Marie said it has helped all of them to find their place in life and reinforced the values with which they were all instilled along the way.
"When we attend family gatherings, my brothers, sister and parents are training the children, grandchildren and great-grand children, the next generations," she said.