James Clement Moffet III, 87, of Huntsville, Alabama, died on Friday at a local hospital. He was the eldest of four siblings who grew up in Philadelphia during The Great Depression. Born into an Irish Catholic family, Mr. Moffet attended church regularly and became an altar boy. As an adolescent, he was fascinated by radio, and it was this interest that ultimately shaped his hobbies and education. He also developed a penchant for drawing caricatures of people; a talent that would later make him famous at work. In high school, he worked for three newspapers and saved his money for college. He was the first person in his family to get a college education. He worked and attended La Salle University in Philadelphia for his undergraduate, and went on to Marquette University in Milwaukee where he received his master’s degree in applied physics. After college he went to work for General Electric in Philadelphia as a defense contractor. During this time he met and married his first wife, Cay. The two settled in Valley Forge and had two children. He also received his advanced amateur radio license and bought his first HAM radio.
In 1968 he moved the family to Orlando FL where he worked for Martin Marietta for two years before accepting a position with The Stanford Research Institute located in Huntsville, Alabama. New to the South, he and Cay joined a square dancing club and integrated into southern culture. Several years later, he took a director’s position as a systems engineer at Teledyne Brown from which he later retired. He started an AOL group called “The Gnus”; a group that spoke to each other using words phonetically. Later, he would craft hundreds of rebuses which were distributed throughout the Internet and later cataloged on an Italian website.
James was also a very sentimental individual who saved his children’s toys, achievements, letters, art works, etc. He would spend days shopping for the perfect gift for his grandchildren or brave long lines in freezing weather at 4 a.m. to get them the latest “must have” Christmas toy. He will be remembered for his incredible wit, humor and generosity.
He was preceded in death by his first beloved wife and mother of his children, Catherine “Cay” Frances Anzellotto Moffet, his brother Jerry and sisters Dorothy and Helene.
He is survived by his dedicated wife, Martha Blackwell; children, Jamie Moffet and Bambi Reynolds (Bruce); stepchildren, Danny, Mary, and Pam; grandchildren, Mia Catherine, Jace, Quentin, and Victoria; step grandchildren, Mary Lou and Samuel; and several nieces and nephews.
A memorial Mass will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, January 21, 2017 at Holy Spirit Catholic Church located on Airport Road. A reception will follow at the church.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Christmas Charities, 2840 Jordan Lane, Huntsville AL, 35816.
“Even a lowly potato in a dank cellar, has about it a certain cunning which serves it well in its stead.”-Unknown
