Funeral services for Tommie J. Cable Moulder were held Saturday, September 7,
2013 at Saint Jo Church of Christ with C.E. Cole officiating. Internment
followed at McGrady Cemetery. Services were directed by McCoy Funeral Home of
Saint Jo.
Tommie, age 96, peacefully passed away Tuesday evening September 3, 2013 in
Weatherford, Texas with family by her side.
Tommie was the sixth of seven children born to Tom and Belle (McGrady) Cable on
April 15, 1917 near Clear Creek west of Saint Jo.
Tommie had an adventurous childhood growing up in the Dye Mound area where she
learned a great deal about making your own fun, a trait she put to use her
entire life. Tommie used money from a cotton crop she and her siblings
harvested to begin attending what is now the University of North Texas. She
received both her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Education from there.
During WWII Tommie married her high school sweetheart, Johnnie Moulder just
prior to his deployment overseas. Johnnie and Tommie enjoyed 53 years of a very
loving marriage. One of Tommie’s greatest loves was being with and helping her
family. She was very proud of being a wife to Johnnie, a mother to John Cable,
and in helping raise her niece Lina Jo. Tommie’s nieces and their families were
so dear to her heart adding unforgettable excitement and memories to her life.
“Miss Tommie, Miss Tommie” was the call many of us heard for years. She
recalled when it all began:
“I’d introduced myself as Miss Tommie at Dye Mound because my mother was still
alive, and my sister Lina also had the last name of Cable, and I thought
another Miss Cable would just confuse people. When I came to Saint Jo to teach
some of the same kiddos I’d taught at Dye Mound were students here, and they
continued to call me Miss Tommie. After I got married they worried I was going
to change my name. So they had me write a letter to my husband, who was in
service at the time, and ask him if it would be alright if I could still be
Miss Tommie. Johnnie replied that it would be fine to continue.”
“When I took a job teaching at Prairie Valley, I thought I’d be Mrs. Moulder,
and that’s how I introduced myself to a roomful of third and fourth graders.
However, two or three days later a little girl said: ‘You’re not the teacher I
thought was coming, my cousin in Saint Jo said a Miss Tommie was coming, and
she said a lot of good things about her, but that Miss Tommie didn’t come.’ I
said ‘Well, I am Miss Tommie, and that name just stayed with me from then on.”
Teaching was not just a job to Tommie it was truly her passion. She felt that
being an educator was the greatest profession a person could have. The evidence
of this was shown through the fact that she could still remember students she
had taught in the forties and fifties along with who they married and in most
cases knew their children. The many visits she continued to have her entire
life from former students was a source of great pleasure to her. Her
teaching career spanned 40 years and included 15 years as the Principal of
Saint Jo Elementary. After retiring Tommie continued her service to the school
by serving on the school board.
Tommie was also a fan of having fun and was thus involved in every social club
at one time or another that Saint Jo had to offer. Her greenhouse and the
flowers she grew there were shared with many people in town. Tommie was very
civic minded and involved in her community. She was a member of the Saint
Jo Church of Christ, numerous civic clubs as well as several professional
organizations.
Tommie is survived by her son John Cable Moulder and wife Allee, of
Weatherford, Texas, two grandchildren Joncee Moulder Blake and husband Teal
Blake currently of McLeod, Montana, and Reid Moulder currently attending Texas
Tech in Lubbock, Texas. Nieces Lina Jo Flusche, Laveoda Nance, Stella Manion and
Sara Reaves. Also several great-nieces and nephews.
Tommie was preceded in death by her husband Johnnie Moulder, parents Tom and
Belle Cable and siblings J.B Cable, Inez Wade, Pauline Johns, Winnie Belle
Parks, Lina Boggess and T.S. Cable Jr., a niece Patty Sue Johns Black and
nephew Charles Wade.
