Bill Moyers
1916-2010
William Taylor
Moyers, was born in Atlanta, Georgia in
1916, and came to Colorado’s San Luis Valley
in 1931, growing up on the F. R. Swift ranch
north of Alamosa. While in school, he toured
the area competing in local rodeos. He
graduated from Adams State College in 1939,
and then attended art school at the Otis Art
Institute in Los Angeles, California. Prior
to World War II, Bill was employed by Walt
Disney studios as an animator, working on
such classic films as “Fantasia”. With the
outbreak of World War II, Bill served as a
US Army Signal Corps captain in the South
Pacific and the Philippines. In 1943, he
married Neva Anderson, who he met in
college, and who was then serving as a US
Naval Officer. After the war, Bill and Neva
established their home in Martha’s Vineyard,
Massachusetts, where Bill began a career as
a successful illustrator and author. After a
move to Georgia and summers in Colorado,
Bill and Neva moved to Albuquerque in 1962
where Bill painted and sculpted western
subjects full-time. Over the years, he
received numerous awards and recognition for
his artwork, beginning with the American
Artist award in 1945 for his illustrations
for the western novel, The Virginian. He
later received numerous awards from the
prestigious Cowboy Artists Association, a
group for which he served as a longtime
member and four-term president.