Manford Ray & Marshall Walton Moore

George Walton Moore was born 16 May 1857 in Illinois, son of Robert Moore and Eliza Jane Wells, died 7 April 1925 in Monroe County, Iowa and was buried in the Lovilia, Iowa, town cemetery. He married 5 June 1890 in Hickman, Lancaster County, Nebraska, Mary Catherine Grim who was born 4 May 1868 in Hickman, Lancaster County, Nebraska, daughter of George W. Grim and Catherine Shatto, and died 2 December 1942, in Gandy, Nebraska, and was buried in the Lovilia, Iowa, town cemetery. To this union four children were born:

[1] Emma Blanche Moore was born 17 May 1891, near Panama in Lancaster County, Nebraska, and died 20 October 1933 at her home near Wellington, Colorado. She married in April 1910 in Tryon, Nebraska, Herbert Jarmin.

[2] John Roy Moore was born 24 September 1894 in Panama, Lancaster County, Nebraska, died in December 1957 in North Platte, Nebraska and was buried in McCain cemetery near Stapleton, Nebraska. He married 18 February 1914 in Broken Bow, Nebraska, Urah Jane Beaver, who was born 16 July 1894, daughter of Samuel Wilson Beaver and Margaret J. Daugherty Gillett, died 12 December 1955 in North Platte, Lincoln County, Nebraska. To this union ten children were born: Margaret Catherine Moore (1916-1975) married Ira Emmett Cumpston in 1959; Audrey Esther Moore (1920-1985) married Larry Eugene Bierma in 1945; Samuel Walton Moore (1922-2001) married LeNora Arlene Nielsen in 1943; Charles Ray Moore (1923-1990) married Wanda Harrington; John R. Moore, Jr. (1925-2006) married (a) in 1950 Naomi Hampton and (b) in 1979 Marilyn Hall Sunia; Albert Lyle Moore (c1928) married Edna Louise Blagdon in 1952; Urah Elizabeth "Betty" Moore (1930-2007) married Edwin Junior Schaefer; and Bertha Pauline Moore (1932-1932).

[3] Manford Ray Moore was born 14 October 1896 near Bennett in Lancaster County, Nebraska, died 12 August 1967 in Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa, and was buried in the Gosport Cemetery, Marion County, Iowa. He married 21 July 1926 in Chariton, Lucas County, Iowa, Maggie Electa Agan who was born 19 August 1903 in northern Lucas County, Iowa, daughter of Lee Roy Agan and Louisa Angeline Agan, died 12 February 1996 at Wesley Acres Retirement Home, Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa, and her body was willed to the University of Iowa College of Medicine. Her ashes were interred at the Gosport Cemetery, Marion County, Iowa. Two children were born to this union: Leroy Walton Moore who married Kathryn Fisher and Gay Letha Moore who married Lewis Nichols.

[4] Marshall Walton Moore was born 23 February 1899 near Bennett in Lancaster County, Nebraska, died 12 October 1963 in Appanoose County, Iowa, and was buried in the Jerome Cemetery. He married 19 October 1936 Edna Mae "Tootie" Hardy who was born 21 March 1913 in Jerome, Appanoose County, Iowa, daughter of William Hardy, Jr. and Marie "Maggie" Allan, died in January 1978 in Appanoose County, Iowa, and was buried in the Jerome Cemetery. Two children were born of this union: Jerry Lee Moore and Roger Marshall Moore.

Penn Profile: Manford Moore

Penn College Bulletin - June 1966

William Penn College, Oskaloosa, Iowa

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Penn Profile

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Penn Profile for June is an alumnus of Penn College who is also a faculty member here. But after more than fifty years in the classroom, he plans to retire at the end of this school year. Manford

Moore, Professor of Industrial Arts, earned his B.A. Degree with honors from Penn College in 1936, and later returned to begin the Industrial Arts Department there. For a man who said after one year of teaching, "This is not for me!", Prof. Moore is a revered instructor who renounced that vow. His retirement from active teaching comes as the culmination of a long but steady climb up the ladder of success.

The first, lower rungs of that ladder were in rural schools, followed by rungs in elementary, junior high, and high schools. His years at William Penn College topped the ladder. By dint of perseverance, patience, and plain hard work, Prof. Moore has attained a status of professor-ship, honored among his co-workers and beloved by his students. Of the latter, through the long years there must have been more than 2,000 pupils under his tutelage.

If we burn back the years, 1913 would find Manford Moore at the age of sixteen in his first year of teaching in Logan County, Nebraska, where he stayed one year only, as he decided that was the way he wanted to earn his bread. The following summer, however, he did attend summer school with courses from the University of Nebraska.

He began teaching again in 1916 in a rural school in Marion County, Iowa, until the Army took him in May, 1918. He served during World War I to the end of the War, and returned to Iowa in July, 1919.

There followed a career through the years of teaching at Haydock (Bucknell) Consolidated school, Marysville elementary school, Lovilia Junior High, and Jerome High School. He taught and was Superintendent of Schools at Bouton, Coburg, Dallas, Rose Hill, Gibson, and Barnes City. Early in his career he took summer and extension courses from Iowa State Teachers College of Cedar Falls, at Corydon, Bloomfield, Albia, and Chariton. In 1929 he attended William Penn College during the summer. In the summer of 1933 he went to Simpson College for Manual Training, which was not offered at Penn. In 1934 and 1935 he continued Summer School study at Penn and by correspondence from the University of Iowa.

He obtained his B.A. Degree at Penn College, August 18, 1936. This degree was conferred with honors, and was the first such degree issued by Penn with honors for work done entirely by extension and correspondence and summer work. In 1940 he secured his Master of Science degree at Iowa State College at Ames.

He obtained his Superintendent's Certificate issued by the State of Iowa on September 17, 1937, based on his B.A. degree and work done at the University of Iowa and University of Chicago.

In 1958 President S. A. Watson, Penn College, asked Prof. Moore to start an Industrial Arts Department there. He joined the faculty that Fall and started a woodworking and metal shop in Penn Hall. Those early beginnings have grown from about ten students in one or two rooms to a modern Industrial Arts Building with a total of 56 Industrial Arts major students this year.

Mr. Moore was married in 1926 to Maggie Agan, who is also a Penn alumna and who teaches in the Home Economics Department there. They have two children, Leroy, a minister at Farmington, Iowa; and Mrs. Gay Nichols, of Knoxville, Iowa. The Moores are active in the Methodist Church. He is affiliated with the Masons and Eastern Star, and is a member of the American Legion and World War I Veterans.

Prof. Moore has several hobbies akin to his vocation, as he enjoys both woodworking and leatherwork. He recently bought a gem cutting machine and said he will "begin polishing diamonds as soon as I find some." He says that his plans for retirement are "indefinite, except that I definitely plan to retire." The Moores live at 1006 Gurney, Oskaloosa.

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Addendum: Manford Moore, born October 14, 1896, died on August 12, 1967, approximately one year after his retirement, at the age of 70.

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The editor sincerely appreciates the contribution of the above article to The Jerome Journal by the Rev. Leroy Moore, Manford's son, of Indianola, Iowa.

Maggie Agan Moore, 1903-1996

Maggie Agan Moore, the daughter of Lee Roy and Angeline Agan, was born August 19, 1903, in a little farm house in northern Lucas County, the seventh of nine children. She was the last one of that family, when she died, at Wesley Acres, on February 12, 1996, at the age of 92. She had lived at the Wesley Acres Retirement Home for 20 years and was always glad of her decision to move there. Her body was willed by her to the University of Iowa College of Medicine.

Maggie Agan Moore - After Retirement

She attended grade school at the Pleasant Valley country school one-half mile from their home. While in the fourth grade she knew she was going to be a teacher. Though she hadn't been to high school, when 17 she went to Chariton for a summer Extension School, passed the state examinations in sixteen subjects, and received a teacher's certificate! In a later Extension School she became better acquainted with Manford Moore, whom she knew as teacher of a school near Bluebird School, where she was teaching. They were married on July 21, 1926, and were educators ever after.

Maggie Agan - 1923

Maggie and Manford didn't go to "regular" college terms. They would teach school for nine months and then go to college summer school. And, they had two children, Gay and Leroy. Though Manford completed his education first, Maggie didn't give up. She graduated from William Penn College when she was 47. And she received a Master's degree from the University of Iowa just 12 days before she was 60!

They lived and taught in Haydock, Marysville, Lovilla, Jerome, Bouton, Coburg, Dallas, Rose Hill, Gibson and Barnes City. They they began their last teaching positions--on the faculty of William Penn College. Maggie was Dean of Women and taught Home Economics. Her favorite course was on The Family.

Magan Agan Moore
Gibson School Photograph

She continued at William Penn after Manford's death in 1967, and retired in 1972. After living for a time with her brother Roy in Chariton, she moved to Wesley Acres. She was Librarian for two years, but had to give it up because her sight was failing. She also conducted tours for visiting church (and other) groups from all over Iowa. Her log book shows that she conducted tours for 283 groups, who totaled 4,953 persons! She was very happy when Fern Agan, her sister-in-law, moved to Wesley Acres.

Maggie was a life-long Methodist and for the last several years has been a member of the Fort Des Moines United Methodist Church.

She always reminded her children that they were very fortunate people, because (1) they had such a wonderful man as a father, and because (2) they each married such outstanding persons -- Gay married Lewis Nichols and Leroy married Kathryn Fisher.

Maggie Moore with her two children,

Leroy Walton Moore & Gay Letha Moore

And she loved her grandchildren: Laurence, Gayletha, Charanne, and Loretta. She was gladdened at every good thing they achieved, received or did, both as children and as adults. In the same way, she was in love with her great-grandchildren: Nathan, Jeremy, Brian, Brandon, Rachel, Michael, Maggie, and Hannah. She didn't want to overburden the little children with her long title of GreatGrandMother. So she encouraged them to call her "Great." And they did. She never favored one over another. But she did think it was special that little Maggie was named after her!

At the last, nearly blind, too weak to stand or sit, her voice little more than a whisper, she still said the Spepherd's Psalm from memory and sang parts of several hymns. After one of them, she kept saying the last line of the hymn over and over: "Bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee!"

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The editor sincerely appreciates the contribution of the above article to The Jerome Journal by the Rev. Leroy Moore of Indianola, Iowa. He is Maggie Agan Moore's son.

Jerome - from "Maggie's Story," her life, by Maggie (Agan) Moore, 1903-1996

One day Manford and I were job-hunting. He had heard that there was a vacancy for a school superintendent (I don't remember in what town). We were driving down Highway 2 toward Centerville and saw the sign pointing toward Jerome. Manford was acquainted with the Superintendent there, Harold Main, having met him at one of the summer schools. So he said, "I believe we better drive in here. Harold might know of a vacancy somewhere."

In Jerome we learned that Harold had already left. The school term wasn't over. A woman in Jerome, who had been the Principal years before, finished out the term. And they were looking for a Superintendent. He met some School Board members. They didn't hire him that day. But they told him to come back and meet the whole Board.

I have always remembered that, when we left Jerome that day, Manford and I were singing the hymn,

"The sign of the fire by night,

and the sign of the cloud by day,

hovering over, just before,

as we journey on our way,

shall a guide and a leader be

till the wilderness be passed.

For the Lord our God

In his own good time

Will lead to the light at last."

We sent down the road singing that hymn, because we were so thankful. Jobs were hard to find. We felt that the Lord led us to Jerome.

Howard Carter and Manford borrowed a trailer to pull behind the car and move our furniture to Jerome in 1934. We had to sell a lot of our furniture, because the only house we could rent in Jerome was furnished. It was an old house with a kitchen, a dining room, living room, and two bedrooms. Another room was full of furniture which belonged to the owner of the house, Anna Gorman. We had a big heating stove in the dining room. We didn't heat the living room or

bedrooms in the winter. There was also an old cook stove in the kitchen for heat and cooking. In the summer time we used a three-burner kerosene stove for cooking.

Figure 1.

Manford Moore, 1934 school photo

We had an electric washing machine in Lovilia, but because Jerome didn't have electricity in town, we sold the washing machine and I had to wash clothes on a "wash board." We heated the water in a boiler on the cook stove.

The fuel for the heating stove and the cook stove was both corn cobs and coal. Jerome was a coal mining town.

We had good friends Cloe and Stitcher Hawkins [1] there. They had no children, and were very fond of Gay and Leroy. Cloe and I worked together in the church. We were adult supervisors of the Epworth League, the young peoples' group. Our minister lived in another town and wasn't able to be in Jerome on Sunday evening for Epworth League.

I went to Iowa Wesleyan College for a week on summer for the Epworth League Institute.

The great depression was on, at that time. For entertainment people went to church and Sunday School. Manford taught a Sunday School class. We also had many school affairs. One a month we had an evening for parents at the school. We also spent many evenings with Cloe and Stitcher Hawkins. His brother [2] ran one of the two grocery stores in Jerome and lived across the street west of us. They had three little girls. The oldest girl [3] and Gay were good friends.

Stitcher's sister [4] was a nurse. When she was not on duty, she would stay at the Hawkins' family in Jerome. She was a good friend to us, too. Also, she was quite helpful to us when there was illness. The closest doctor was at Centerville, ten miles away. It cost $10 whenever the doctor came out.

The family [5] across the street south of us ran the other grocery store. They had one grown son [6] who no longer lived in Jerome. They also had Pekinese dogs.

Jerome had a two-year high school. Leroy started to kindergarten there, the first day Manford was Superintendent of a school. The school building was made of brick. In addition to several classrooms, it had an auditorium. At the top of the stairs, in the center of the building, was the Superintendent's office. There was a telephone in that office. The school janitor, Jordie Anderson [7], had a wooden leg. He was very cross with the students. He stood at the door whenever the children were coming in from recess to make everyone clean their shoes.

One of the teaches, Miss King [8], was from Centerville. Another teacher [9] lived in Promise City and drove to Jerome every day.

The school had outdoor toilets.

The basketball games were played outdoors, on a dirt court. Manford would mark the court lines with lime, before a game was played with another school.

Manford was going to buy a great big plank to make a teeter-totter for the school yard. But my father donated the blank from a tree on the farm where I grew up, and Manford made it into a teeter-totter.

The town cemetery was just over the fence from the school yard.

Many years later Leroy and I drove to Jerome, just to see it again. The school had been closed, sold, and made into an antique shop. The woman who was operating it used to teach at Jerome.

The church was about half-way between our house and the school.

There was also another church in Jerome, called The Believers. I never heard of them anywhere else.

During the summers we went to summer school at William Penn College in Oskaloosa. We had an apartment at the home of Professor and Mrs. Stanley. They were very fine people and were good to us. Both Manford and I went to college. We took a very heavy load of courses.

One of those summers Edna "Tootie" Hardy went with us from Jerome. She did our cooking and took care of Gay and Leroy. She took them to the town's library every day of the week. They would come home with their arms full of books; five each. After reading their own books, they would exchange. The next day they would get other books. We had no radio, and, of course, no television.I can't remember how much we paid her. But it was a very small sum.

Manford's brother, Marshall, lived with us part of the time while we were in Jerome. So Tootie and Marshall met. And she went to Nebraska with us on one of our trips to visit Manford's family there.

Later Tootie and Marhall were married and lived in Jerome. They had two boys, Jerry and Roger. Both of these boys worked their way through college.

Figure 2.
Edna "Tootie" Hardy married

Marshall Moore, Manford's brother.

Years later, when Marshall died, Leroy officiated at his funeral. Marshall was buried at Jerome. Even later, Tootie was buried there, too.

Manford also took Saturday college courses at Iowa City. He was working hard to complete his Bachelor of Arts degree, and received that degree while we lived at Jerome.

Figure 3.

Manford Moore in his Bachelor of Arts cap and gown,

on receiving the degree from William Penn College.
Photo in the yard of Anna Gorman's house

where we lived in Jerome.

We had a very hard winter one of the years we lived in Jerome. The snow fell so heavily that the roads were blocked. We couldn't get out to the highway north of Jerome for several days. The snow was higher than the tops of the cars. The men did a lot of hand shoveling, before they could get the machines through. Some of them paid off their poll taxes by that work on the road.

The Walnut Creek Coal Company was near the junction of the Jerome road and Highway 2. There was also a pig farm at that corner. We used to hold our breath, whenever we passed it.

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Editor's Notes: [1] Mary Chloe Vail came to Jerome to teach at the Jerome School, met and married Archibald Franklin "Stitcher" Hawkins, [2] William Earl and Lora (Patrick) Hawkins, [3] Phyllis Carolyn Hawkins, [4] Cadd Hawkins who was in the first class of nurses (1912) to graduate from St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital in Centerville, [5] Herbert and Etta (Frogge) Warnick, [6] Walter L. Warnick, [7] George "Gordy" Anderson, [8] Georgia King, and [9] Cleo Baughman.

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The editor sincerely appreciates the contribution and permission to publish this section from Maggie's Story by Maggie (Agan) Moore, 1903-1996, with pictures to The Jerome Journal by her son, the Rev. Leroy Moore of Indianola, Iowa.

Mary Catherine Grim Moore Murrish

Mary Catherine Grim Moore Murrish lived in Jerome with her son's family, the Manford Moores, in the mid-1930s. Marshall Moore of Jerome was also her son.

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Mary Catherine Grim, daughter of George W. and Catherine A. Grim, was born May 4, 1868 near Hickman, Nebr., in Lancaster county, and passed away December 2, 1942 at her home in Gandy, Nebr., at the age of 74 years, 6 months and 28 days. On June 5, 1890 she was united in marriage to George W. Moore of Hickman, Nebr. To this union four children were born: Emma Blanche, who preceded her in death in Oct. 1933; John Roy; Manford Ray, and Marshall W.

During the first few years of their married life they made their home near Hickman, Nebr., later living in Illinois and Oklahoma and finally moving back to Nebraska. In the spring of 1907 they moved to Logan county, Nebraska, and settled on a Kinkaid homestead. After proving up their homestead they traded for land in Iowa and made their home there until the time of Mr. Moore's death on April 7, 1925.

After his death she lived with her son Manford in Iowa for some time, later moving to Gandy, and finally to Kearney, where she was united in marriage to John Murrish in Dec. 1927. He also preceded her in death in April, 1934.

She then moved to Iowa for a short time, but later came back to Gandy, where she was living at the time of her death.

She was a good wife and a kind and loving mother. She always had sympathy for those in need. Early in life she united with the Christian church, and still held to that faith at the time of her death.

She leaves to mourn her passing: three sons, John Roy of Arnold, Nebr., Manford Ray of Coburg, Iowa, and Marshall W. of Jerome, Iowa; seventeen grandchildren; ten great-grandchildren; two brothers, Daniel J. Grim of Okla., and George W. Grim of Mo.; and three sisters, a twin, Sarah E. Scott of Kansas, Minnie T. Swank of Okla., and Phoebe A. Baer of Okla. She also leaves to mourn her loss a host of friends and neighbors.

Interment was made in the family plot in Lovilla, Iowa. Roy Moore of Garfield and Manford Moore accompanied the remains to that city.

A precious one from us has gone,

A voice we loved is stilled.

A place is vacant in our home,

Which never can be filled.

God in his wisdom hath recalled

The boon his love had given,

And tho the body slumbers here,

The soul is safe in Heaven.

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The editor appreciates the contribution of this obituary to The Jerome Journal by the Rev. Leroy Moore of Indianola, Iowa.

Marshall Walton Moore & Edna Mae Hardy

Marshall Walton Moore was born 23 February 1899 near Bennett in Lancaster County, Nebraska, son of George Walton Moore and Mary Catherine Grim, died 12 October 1963 in Appanoose County, Iowa, and was buried in the Jerome Cemetery. He was married by Rev. Trimble at the Christian Church Parsonage on 19 October 1936 to Edna Mae "Tootie" Hardy who was born 21 March 1913 in Jerome, Appanoose County, Iowa, daughter of William Hardy, Jr. and Marie "Maggie" Allan, died January 1978 in Appanoose County, Iowa, and was buried in the Jerome Cemetery. Two children were born of this union: Jerry Lee Moore and Roger Marshall Moore.

Edna May Hardy & Marshall Walton Moore

on Their Wedding Day - 19 October 1936

Marshall & Edna Moore in 1960

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Daily Iowegian - 21 October 1963

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-- Obituary --

Marshall Walton Moore was born to Mary Catherine and George Walton Moore on Feb. 23, 1899 in Bennett, Nebraska. At the time of his death, he was 64 years, 7 months and 19 days old.

He was married to Edna Mae Hardy of Jerome, Iowa, at the Christian Church Parsonage, by Rev. Trimble on Oct. 19, 1936. His brother and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Manford Moore, were attendants.
They lived in Kearney, Nebr., their first year of marriage; then they returned to Jerome, where they made their home ever since.

Two sons were born to them, Jerry Lee, age 25, on March 11, 1938; and Roger Marshall, age 16, Sept. 28, 1947.

Surviving his death are his widow, Edna; his sons, Jerry and Roger, and a brother, Manford and his wife Maggie, of Oskaloosa, Ia.
Preceding him in death are his parents; a brother, Roy Moore and his wife, Urah; and a sister, Blanche, of Nebraska.

Also left to mourn his death are several nieces and nephews and a host of other relatives, neighbors and friends.
"You cannot say, you must not say,
That he is dead, he is just away;

Taken without a good-bye and without a warning,

But sadly missed by his family at noon, night, and morning."

Card of Thanks

Due to the many, many acts of kindness, we are unable to thank everyone individually, so my sons and I take this opportunity to thank each and every one for all the nice cards, good food, the beautiful flowers, the kind deeds, and a special thanks to all the ladies who prepared the meal for the relatives after the funeral; also, thanks to the Miller-Wehrle Funeral Home, Dr. Leffert, Genevieve Mincks, and our nephew, Rev. Leroy Moore. With all of God's blessings to each of you.

--Mrs. Marshall Moore and Sons, Jerry and Roger

--Mr. and Mrs. Manford Moore

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Gravestone of Marshal W. & Edna M. Moore

in the Jerome Cemetery

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The editor remembers well having "Tootie" Moore regularly cut his hair when he was a boy in Jerome. Marshall came to Jerome to visit his brother Manford who was Principal of the Jerome School. While visiting in Jerome, Marshall met "Tootie" Hardy was helping to care for Manford's children; fell in love with her and married her. The editor sincerely appreciates the contribution to The Jerome Journal of the above information, obituary and pictures by the Rev. Leroy Moore of Indianola, Iowa.