Emily Cole Clements Moffatt

Emily Cole Clements Moffatt passed away quietly on the morning of February 21, 2020. Emily was born November 15, 1928 to Emily Moffatt Clements and George Donald Clements and spent her entire childhood and subsequent adult life in Rosemark, Tennessee. She attended Blue Mountain College in Mississippi for two years, and ultimately graduated from Memphis State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Education. She served as a first grade teacher with the Shelby County School system in Millington, Tennessee for her entire career and was ultimately selected to open the first public kindergarten in Shelby County. In 1948, she married her husband of 60 years, Ralph Brice Moffatt, of the Salem community in Tipton County, who was a vocational agriculture teacher at Bolton High School and Future Farmers of America advisor, who later served as Director of Vocational Education for the Shelby County Board of Education until retirement. Emily and Ralph had two daughters, Emily Susan Moffatt and Martha Jannette (Jan) Moffatt Christoph, both of whom pursued careers in Clinical Social Work. Susan served the needs of children and families for 35 years at the Center for Children in Crisis and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, while Jan’s career took her to Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of Virginia, where she was the Director of Social Work for the UVa Children’s Medical Center, and Jan’s husband, Richard Allen Christoph, MD was the Director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine. Emily’s loving and devoted husband died in 2008, and her daughter Susan died in October 2019 as a result of complications of Scleroderma. Susan’s devoted life partner, Charles Howard Bright, has been a loving and attentive son to Emily for over 27 years. Emily had three grandchildren. Susan’s son, Brice Moffatt Timmons, is an attorney with Black McLaren Jones Ryland & Griffee, PC in Memphis, and his wife, Jenifer Alvarez is a graphic artist and longtime employee at St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Jan’s two sons, John Morgan Moffatt Christoph, is a geologist pursuing graduate studies in planetary science, and James Allen Moffatt Christoph is a pilot pursuing a career in commercial aviation. Emily is also survived by her brother, Donald Moffatt Clements of Martin, Tennessee, and his wife Dotty, and two nephews, Daniel Clements of Martin, Tennessee, and David Clements in Colorado, and her nephew Leslie Moffatt of Brighton, Tennessee. Emily is survived by numerous great nieces and nephews. Emily was very fond of gardening, especially of flowers. She was particularly fond of daffodils and there remain countless varieties of daffodils thriving in the yard of her Rosemark home. In retirement, she and Ralph became very interested in genealogy, especially Moffatt family history. She and Ralph were able to travel to Scotland several times, visit the ancestral home of the Moffatt family in Moffatt Scotland, and enjoyed meeting and traveling with fellow Clan Moffat Society members to Highland Games across the U.S. Ralph served as President of the Clan Moffat Society of North America and Emily served as the Secretary-Treasurer. The family wishes to thank the entire staff at Ave Marie Assisted Living in Bartlett where Emily resided for the past eleven years, especially the staff of St. Luke Cottage where Emily lived during the past two years. Heartfelt thanks are expressed to the Crossroads Hospice and Palliative Care staff who provided much care and comfort. The family will receive friends Monday, February 24 from 1:00 pm until the service at 2:00 pm at Richland Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church 8658 Rosemark Road. Millington, TN. Interment will be at Rosemark Cemetery, next to her beloved husband Ralph. In lieu of flowers, the family requests consideration of a donation to the Gifts in Tribute program at Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 4339 Park Avenue, Memphis, TN 38117 (www.dixon.org/give) so that others may enjoy the beauty of flowers.Read Obituary