Moss, Thomas Huntley

Thomas Huntley Moss, 91, of The Meth-Wick Community, died March 23, 2013.

He was born Sept. 17, 1921, in Libertyville, Iowa. He married Anna Elizabeth Haley on July 25, 1944, in Cleburne, Texas. She died in 1997.

He is survived by two daughters, Martha Moss (Jesse) Coats of Plantation, Fla., and Carol Moss (partner Gary Donnermeyer) of Cedar Rapids; five grandchildren, Lisa (Calvin) Hawley of West Palm Beach, Fla., Robert Lamb of Asheville, N.C., Susannah Lamb of New York, N.Y., Amina Ahaddad of Austin, Texas, and Laila Ahaddad of Cedar Rapids, and their father, Mohamed Ahaddad of Kenitra, Morocco; sister-in-law, Lola Moss of Ottumwa; companion, Ruth Larson, also of The Meth-Wick Community; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Tom was also preceded in death by his parents; two sisters; two brothers; son-in-law, William Lamb; and nephew, William Axmear.

Tom was a veteran of World War II, serving in the Army Medical Department from 1942 to 1946. He retired as a 1st lieutenant, joined the Iowa National Guard in 1947, and retired in 1952 as a captain.

He graduated from Libertyville High School in 1938, attended Parsons College in Fairfield (1946-49), graduating with a BA in English, then enrolled in the Journalism School of the University of Missouri graduate school, finishing with an MA in journalism in 1950.

Tom's interests included reading, contract bridge, jazz, fly fishing, crossword puzzles, the St. Louis Cardinals, computers, and, especially, his family. He was a co-founder and first treasurer of Foundation II, the pioneer drug hotline in Cedar Rapids.

A 50-plus-year member of the Cedar Rapids Noon Lions Club, he also served as a director of Cerebral Palsy and Jane Boyd House. His membership in Peoples Church Unitarian Universalist dates back to 1955. A longtime member of the United Nations Association, he served two terms as treasurer of the local chapter.

In retirement, his volunteer work as executive director of the C.R. Medical Aid Fund (now the Iowa Abortion Action Fund) began in 1987 and lasted until 1999. His efforts to organize a national alliance of abortion funds brought about the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) which grew from its inception in 1992 to nearly 100 member funds, extending beyond the U.S. to North America and the United Kingdom, providing loans and grants to women.

In the early 1990s, Tom started a computer laboratory for the elderly at the Witwer Senior Center and, with help from members of the Lions Club, hosted more than 300 seniors in a 5-year period.

Tom worked in sales for the Harper Brush Works in Fairfield before the war, again while at Parsons, and for a third time (1950-52), after graduate school. He moved to Cedar Rapids in 1952 to join the Turner Microphone Co., where he served in sales and marketing until 1968 when the Conrac Corporation bought the company and he became president and general manager. After 25 years with Turner, he operated a manufacturers' representative company in Texas and Oklahoma. From 1979 to his retirement, he returned to Harper once more, serving on itsboard of directors and later in their marketing department. He managed the 1990 U.S. Census in the southeast quarter of Iowa.

Tom had donated his remains to the University of Iowa Deeded Body Program. A memorial service will be held Saturday, April 27, at 2 p.m. at Peoples Church Unitarian Universalist by the Rev. Tom Capo.

Memorials may be directed to the Iowa Abortion Access Fund, PO Box 721, Cedar Rapids, IA 52406-0721, or Peoples Church Unitarian Universalist, 4980 Gordon Ave. NW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52405.

The family gives special thanks to the staff at the Woodlands/The Meth-Wick Community, for their care and attention over the past three years. We know they will miss Tom's sense of humor, which he retained through his final days, as much as we will.

Published March 25, 2013 in The Gazette