Editor's note: The final installment of this series is to be published Monday.

Boonville native William Moore said he loved his childhood in the city, which he said had a huge influence on his life.

Moore  joined the Marines in the early 1950s and traveled the world. He now lives in Kansas. Early this summer, he brought his family back to Boonville to celebrate his 50th class reunion and to show his family the town in which he grew up. 

Moore is writing a book for his family about his life, and much of the book will be about Boonville and his memories of it.

Moore said he remembers a simpler time in Boonville history. He said he remembers a time when strangers were not strangers, a time when a person could sleep on a front porch in town without worry. Moore also remembers when the old Boonville Bridge was still as dangerous as it was when it was torn down to make way for the new bridge.