Ellis Moore didn't learn to read until he was in the 11th grade.

His reading teacher got him there by having him read classical comic books, such as “A Tale of Two Cities.”

But, it wasn’t in the cards for Moore to graduate. He dropped out of high school to join the Marines and go to Vietnam.

“I was an infantry foot soldier — a ground-pounder,” he said.

When he returned from Vietnam at age 23, he went back to high school in his hometown of Luther, a small town northeast of Oklahoma City.

Correspondence courses weren't his style, so he sat in the classroom with 18-year-olds and finished what he had started. The ex-marine was older than at least one of his teachers.

“To me, a GED didn't pay,” he said. “I could actually go to high school, which was more credible to me.”

And, like many young men, he was interested in the opposite sex.

He met his wife after being set up on a blind date with her.

Moore said he went to her house but missed her three times.

Each time, his future mother-in-law fixed him a meal and gave him a phone number.

“I figured after she fed me three times I should remember the number,” he said.

His persistence paid off, and he and his wife have been married 34 years and have three children and eight grandchildren.

Moore moved to Muskogee in 1976 following a construction job with OG&E building substations.

When the construction moved on to Arkansas, he went to work for OG&E as an electrician instead.