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When Ira Moffett became the Metropolitan agent for Lawrenceburg, the family moved back to Lawrenceburg (with great rejoicing!), back to the house at 564 South Main. Here Mr. Moffett worked day and night as an insurance agent, taking a break only to come home for supper, milk the cow, slop the hogs, and tend his garden. “Hog-killing” in the fall was an annual highlight, especially when accomplished with the assistance of Christopher Columbus McKee, one of the semi-legendary black members of the community. By now, Frances (b. July 29, 1921) and Georgia (b. September 11, 1922, and named for the family's beloved neighbor, "Miss Georgie" Wise) had joined the family. The older girls took piano lessons from “Miss Jessie Mae” Lillard at her home down South Main Street. The “Dr. Asa Overall family” were wonderful next door neighbors, at 562 South Main. Joyce, Hazel, Irvine, John, and Linda became lifelong friends of the Moffetts. Since the Dr. Overall house had running water inside (in contrast to the house at 564 South Main), the girls were treated to occasional “bathtub baths” there. Dr. Overall also cared for the girls during their various illnesses, including Frances’ bout with polio in the late 1920s, which left her with a slight limp.
The Five Moffett Girls and Ophelia near Asheville, NC on their way back from a trip to Georgia.
The family took several fun trips, the energetic parents and the lively little girls in tow. They journeyed occasionally to Lexington for doctor's appointments and shopping downtown in the pre-Mall days. They had to cross the Kentucky River on a two-car ferry at Tyrone, which meant a fearful drive DOWN a hill onto the ferry, followed by an equally fearful drive UP a hill on the Woodford County side. Sometimes, if the River was 'up,' they took the 'Clifton ferry,' getting on at the end of the Ninevah Road. There was great relief when the Joe Blackburn highway bridge across the Kentucky River was finally opened and dedicated in June,1932.
To accommodate everyone, Mr. Moffett purchased a new 1933 DeSoto automobile, which, according to the girls, "held all seven of us, plus Miss Georgie!" One memorable trek was to Atlanta in the summer of 1934, to visit Mrs. Moffett’s brother, John Moore, who worked for a shipping rate company there. Martha was fighting appendicitis, but the family decided to forge on with the trip, which included an overnight in a blistering hot Andrew Jackson Hotel in Nashville. While in Atlanta, they visited Stone Mountain (then under construction) and other local 'sights'. On the return trip, the Moore family (Uncle John, Aunt Allie, Jane, and John Allen) drove along in their Model-A Ford for a visit to Kentucky, and there were several flat tires. The families initially attempted to spend the night at the Southern Baptist assembly grounds at Ridgecrest, North Carolina, but there was “no room in the inn.” and they spent another hot night in an Asheville hotel. Even though rarely living in close proximity, the Moffett girls and "Uncle John's family" have remained close. As a teenager, Jane Moore would spend several weeks each summer with the girls on South Main, while John Allen would stay at "Aunt Martha" Goodlett's house on Broadway.
The Moffett Girls and cousins Jane and John Allen pose in front of their 1933 DeSoto
The fall of 1934 provided another memorable experience. On November 16 President Franklin D. Roosevelt was scheduled to come to nearby Harrodsburg to dedicate a federal monument to George Rogers Clark at Fort Harrod. The sisters recall rising before dawn on a bitterly cold day to get to Harrodsburg in time to find a good place to stand. The family had a good vantage point for Roosevelt's address, then ran quickly to get a good place on the route his departing car took. They are convinced that FDR waved directly at them and smiled as he drove by. More frequent family outings included jaunts to Salt River for picnics and wading and to annual Fourth of July celebrations.
Church attendance was at Sand Spring Baptist Church, the family church of the Moore clan. Each of the girls was active in church life and at the appropriate time was baptized into the church membership. They recall the fun of being taken to Sunday School by “Miss Georgie” Wise in her pony cart. As teenagers, each became a leader in the children’s work of Sand Spring, a tradition they had inherited from “Aunt Sallie” Short and “Aunt Mary” Williams. “Aunt Sallie” frequently drove the horse (“Old Billy”) and buggy home from church carrying the girls to Sunday dinner at the Moore home place in Ripyville.
The Moffett Girls along with Melwood Stevens, Uncle John Moore, and his children John Allen and Jane Moore
The Moffett girls attended the public schools of the town, the grade school on Woodford Street and the high school (“City High”) on North Main Street. Memories include skating to town on the newly created sidewalks of Lawrenceburg, leaving their skates at “Uncle Robert” Hanks’ gas station near the school. Kitty and Bitty were the first to graduate from City High, in 1933 and 1934, respectively. Kitty was class salutatorian, Mary Lois the class valedictorian. Mary Lois recalled her terror at having to give her valedictory speech in the high school gym on North Main Street. Mr. Moffett was evidently so upset about the whole affair that he “drove his car all over the county” the day before the evening’s event.