Neva Clifton Moore

Neva Clifton Moore became the second wife of Col. John Jackson Ledbetter Jr. after his divorce from Loraine Leonora Lackey in November 1958.

Marriage

Neva appears in the 1959 diary through lunches and phone calls in early spring. On April 1, 1959, JJL recorded:¹

About noon today John Jackson Ledbetter was married to Neva Clifton Moore in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Neva and I to Reynosa for dnr this eve.

A Difficult Marriage

The marriage was troubled from the start. JJL’s health was poor — he entered Brackenridge Hospital in March 1959 after Cecil Cabaness and Willard Connolly arranged his admission.¹ In 1960, he and Neva began attending AA meetings together, starting with Group 12 in San Antonio on March 30.²

By September 1960, Neva had moved out to the Commodore Perry Hotel. JJL recorded “Very poor reception” when he attempted contact.²

Sobriety

In the final diary year of 1961, JJL and Neva appear together almost every night at AA meetings — Downtown Group, Town Group, Suburb Group, South Austin Group. JJL tracked his sobriety with the precision he once brought to infant feeding schedules: “16 days” on January 31, “65 days” on March 21, “5 months” on June 15.³

On March 21, he chaired the program at the downtown group at sixty-five days sober. The count was punctuated by relapses — a beer at a cabin near Angleton on August 19, then drinking again in November and December — but the attempt was sustained.³