Dr. Thomas Irven Moffett was born in Harrison County, Missouri, on February 9, 1893, and attended grad school at the Lee School in Riley Township, Ringgold County. After attending high school in Hatfield, Missoui, he enrolled in the Kirksville School of Osteopathy and Surgery receiving a degree on January 25, 1918.

. Dr. T. I. Moffet served in World War I and followed his service with a post graduate course. He practiced medicine in Michigan and married at Boyne City, Michigan on August 6, 1928 Sylvia Ann Schneider, daughter of Konrad and Johanna (Boeining) Schneider Dr. and Mrs. Moffet moved to Mount Ayr on September 1, 1928.

[Sylvia was born in Boyne City on July 10, 1905, and died in November of 2001, Mount Ayr.]

Sylvia assisted her husband in his medical practice. In the summer of 1946 he had the old office of Dr. C. T. Lesan. It was torn down and a new doctor’s office was built with an apartment in the rear. The building still stands at 115 South Fillmore on the west side of the Mount Ayr square.

Dr. Moffet died November 11, 1954 having practiced in Mount Ayr for 26 years. Sylva continued to live in the apartment alone until her death in 2001.

I have a policy of not printing hearsay, rumor, myth and legend but... I’m going to make an exception in this case. I was told a story by one of the attendees of the Mount Ayr high school alumni banquet that I must share. The story goes that Dr. Moffet had a cat that had domain over the doctor’s office. Dr. Moffet taught the cat to use the toilet in the doctor’s office. It was said the cat straddled the toilet bowl before making a deposit. I didn’t hear whether the cat was able to flush the stool or not.

Dr. and Sylvia Moffet were interred at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr, Iowa.

Submission by Mike Avitt, June 06, 2013