Hit "Connect" to claim your profiles...
After a year off from school to learn typing and shorthand from Eueth Crossfield, the two oldest daughters were off to Eastern Kentucky State Teachers College in Richmond in the fall of 1935. The painfully homesick Kitty did not return to Eastern after the Thanksgiving holiday, but Mary Lois finished her first full semester in January, 1936. Meanwhile, in 1935, Ira Moffett had suffered a major heart attack (at the age of 45), including a six-week hospital stay and a year’s convalescence in bed, and the family's resources were focused on his recovery and everyone doing what she could to help. Kitty began a job as receptionist at the Anderson County Health Department in December, 1935, a position she would hold for over 40 years. Mary Lois withdrew from college to begin work at the ASC office in the spring of 1936, where she endured farm survey trips all over Anderson County during the blazing hot summer of that year, the hottest July and August on record in the state. Squire Gordon, a good friend of Ira Moffett, helped the girls find these jobs.
During Mr. Moffett's convalescence, two local black men, 'John Bill' Searcy and Chris Thurman, helped the family with chores such as gardening and milking. Mr. Moffett was very precise in his supervision of his beloved vegetable garden. In later years, John Russell helped with the milking. It was also about this time that Alice Johnson joined up as the designated 'ironing lady' for the family. Soon thereafter Rose Huggins Penny became the family's beloved 'cleaning lady,' a position she held faithfully for fifty-nine years, until her death in 2001.
It was about this time that the two older girls needed to learn to drive, because Mr. Moffett was still confined to bed. A family friend, Dick McGurk, who worked at the Ford garage in Lawrenceburg, was their driving instructor, giving each girl two lessons and “turning them loose.” They recall learning to drive about the time that Lawrenceburg installed the first sewer line on South Main Street, which necessitated installing boards over the ditch so that cars could get out of the driveways.
Another interesting memory. In the early 1930s the family’s cousin, Forrest “Aggie” Sale, became an outstanding basketball player at the University of Kentucky. Occasionally, Aggie’s parents, “Cousin Fauster” and “Cousin Mary” Sale would visit the Moffett home in an attempt to hear their son’s games on the radio. This began the girls’ long fascination with Kentucky basketball.
They were also fans of the local high school teams. When City High played in the Kentucky State Tournament in 1928, the team went to the semi-finals, where they were a heavy favorite over Carr Creek, a team from the mountains which had no indoor facilities to play in. “Mom” and “Daddy” drove to Lexington to see the game, leaving the girls under the care of “Aunt Liza” Rice, a black woman who lived with her husband on South Main Street. Unfortunately, City High lost to Carr Creek, 37-11. In March, 1930, Mr. Moffett took 'the girls' to a showdown game between Kavanaugh High and Lawrenceburg High at the district tournament in Frankfort. When the game went into overtime, the Moffetts had to leave, because Mr. Moffett had an insurance meeting later that evening. When they arrived home, "Mom' gave them the news that Kavanaugh had prevailed.
Meanwhile, the family needed more room than was available at 564 South Main, which they had purchased from the ‘heirs’ in 1936 upon the death of Rev. Moore. Several of the daughters would spend the nights next door at 566 South Main Street, with “Miss Georgie” (Mrs. Harry) Wise. Upon Miss Georgie’s death in the summer of 1938, the Moffetts bought her house and, after some serious “fix-up” work, moved next door to a much roomier setting in early 1939. The “girls” recall the excitement of the auction. When it was clear that the Moffetts had won the bid, the assembled crowd cheered. Their Lawrenceburg friends rejoiced that this beloved family finally had a house with enough room. “Mom’s” inheritance from her father’s estate made possible the purchase.
Meanwhile, Martha Moffett had graduated as valedictorian from City High in 1937, joining her older sisters in the work force, with a year of employment at the local Thread Factory, later joining the work force at the County Agent's Office in Lawrenceburg.
At this point the family experienced its greatest crisis up to this time. Frances, who had been the valedictorian at City High in the spring of 1939, went off to Eastern Kentucky College in the fall. Later in the semester, Mary Lois went to Richmond to visit her sister, driven by her new 'beau,' Carl Birdwhistell, only to find Frances very ill. They brought her back to Lawrenceburg, only to find out that Frances had a severe case of strep throat. With no suitable antibiotics available to fight the infection, this vibrant young woman died on January 14, 1940. In many ways, the family never recovered from this loss.
But life went on. Georgie graduated from City High in 1940, part of a brilliant class which also included W. J. Smith, George Gilbert, and "Pud" Goodlett. She went to work at the "Dime" Store downtown.
The other girls continued to work at their jobs, while Mary Lois continued a lively courtship with Carl Birdwhistell. As the family gathered at "Aunt Lucy" Hanks' house on Sunday afternoon, December 7, 1941, to celebrate "Mom's" forty-seventh birthday, they had no idea what lay ahead a few thousand miles west in Pearl Harbor. This day ended the youth of the Moffett Girls and started a new era for the whole family and country.