Lorene Waldron (1923-2012)

   My father's sister, Lorene, passed away this week on 26 Nov 2012.  She died peacefully in her sleep.  She was my father's oldest of three sisters.  Here is a short bio I wrote in 2004.

Lorene
High School

     Ethel Lorene Hork was born Aug 3, 1923 in Santa Monica, California.  She attended St. George's Catholic Grammar School and Chaffey Union High School in Ontario. In grammar school, Lorene remembers "skipping second grade to the third grade and crowning the Blessed Virgin in Our May Church procession." She also won the American Legion School award.

      Her first job was as an usherette in a movie theater in Napa. She was paid $12.00 a week. She worked for the Army as a civilian for 18 months and lived in Japan not far from the Imperial Palace. After working there, she traveled around the world with friends visiting Asia, the Middle East and Europe. She returned to the United States on the Queen Mary.

Lorene & Wally

      Lorene married Wallace William Waldron on October 11, 1958 in Las Vegas, Nevada. She recalls that the Monsignor Ryan, who married them, also married Bing and Kathy Crosby. After marrying Lorene and Wally, he showed them around Las Vegas.

     They first lived in an apartment in San Francisco. They also lived in San Diego and Los Gatos. Some other jobs Lorene worked: in a hospital in Napa and Pittsburg, working for 3 doctors. She also worked 25 years with the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

    Wally died March 8, 1985 at Stanford University Hospital. 

    Lorene continued living on her own, traveling often to see family and friends.  Some trips she made together with my father.  Later, when she was unable to live on her own, she moved to Marin county where my cousin took care of her affairs while she lived in an assisted living facility.

Lorene upper left with sisters & brother

   She was well-remembered by her nieces and nephews as the "fun" aunt.  She was spirited, adventuresome  and funny.  She told wonderful stories of her life as a young woman and she seemed so unafraid of living her life to the fullest.  She will be dearly missed by all of us.  Rest in Peace, Aunt Lorene.

Copyright © 2012 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past

Veteran's Day - William Cyril Hork's Stint in the Navy

This post was originally posted on October 17, 2011 but thought it was appropriate to repost today on Veteran's Day.

Seaman Cyril W. Hork

My grandfather, William Cyril Hork (1899-1967) served in the United States Navy.   His active service in the Navy was between January 5, 1918, where he enlisted at Salt Lake City, Utah, and June 14, 1919 where he was discharged, again at Salt Lake City.[1]

I have his Service Record and learned he used another variation of his name: Cyril Willis Hork.  You can see his signature here:

I also learned where he trained and served.  His training took place in San Diego and at Mare Island, California.  He then was stationed at the U.S. Sub Base in San Pedro, California.  From March 31, 1919 to Jun 12, 1919 he served on the U.S.S. Alert.

So what was this USS Alert?  I found information on the website California Center for Military History and there was a photo of the USS Alert. It was a submarine tender, used to refuel and supply submarines.

USS Alert with four submarines in San Pedro, California

[1] National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, Missouri, Cyril W. Hork, 173 64 55.



Copyright © 2012 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past

Saturday Night Fun - Genealogy Name Roulette: Mary Sheehan

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings has a fun Saturday blog activity and today I decided to play.  What the Name Roulette is:

1. Find the name of one of your great-grandmothers.
2. Divide her birth date by 90 and round to the nearest whole number.  Use that number to find the ancestor in your tree with the same Ahnetafel number.
3. Write 3 facts about that ancestor.

To find the roulette number I took the birthdates of all four of my great-grandmothers and found that by dividing by 90, I came up with the same rounded number of 21.  The ancestor with 21 is my great-great-grandmother, Mary Sheehan.

Mary Sheehan was born probably in Cahirkeem, Co Cork, Ireland.(1)  I do not know her exact birthdate.  The two census entries (1870 & 1880) in the United States have her birth year as 1827 and 1832. Her tombstone listed her age as 70 making her birth in 1832.

She married Jeremiah Sullivan sometime around 1841-1842, as their first child was born in Nov 1843.(2)  I had a researcher look at church records and he said the marriage book for that time period is missing.

Mary and Jeremiah had at least 9 children (4 baptism records he found in Ireland, four of which we know went to the US, and one child born in the US).

Mary Sullivan, wife of Jerry Sullivan
Motley Cemetery

Jeremiah Sullivan probably worked in the mines in Co Cork and nearby Co Kerry before the family emigrated to the United States after the potato famine.  They came sometime between 1860 and 1869 (the dates between births of two of the youngest children).  One son said 1864, another Oct 1865, another said 1866.(3)

They lived in Houghton Co, Michigan; Todd Co, Minnesota; and Morrison Co, Minnesota.  In Todd Co, Jeremiah obtained a homestead and built a log cabin on the property that was

"15 feet by 20 feet, had a board roof, one door, 3 windows, 2 floors, and a cellar.  The property also had a log stable and a well."(4)

She died 24 Feb 1892 according to her obituary "after suffering with a cancer in the stomach for some time."(5)  She is buried in Motley Cemetery.(6)


--------------------------------------
1. Research done by Riobard O'Dywer, Co Cork, Ireland.
2. Baptism record for Mary Sullivan, Eyeries Village Church, 5 Nov 1843, transcribed by Riobard O'Dywer.
3. 1900 Todd Co, MN US Federal Census, ED 200, sheet 7, Eugene Sullivan; Davison Co, SD Naturalization for John Sullivan, V. 229, p 209; 1900 Pierce Co, WA US Federal Census, Tacoma, ED 182 Sheet 1, 5th ward, Jerry Sullivan.
4. Homestead papers for Jerrey Sullivan, General Land Entry Files, application 7874, patent 4462, National Archives, Washington, DC. 
5. Obituary of Mrs. Jeremiah Sullivan, Staples World (Staples, MN), 27 Feb 1892, p 8.
6. Photo of tombstone, Mary Sullivan, Motley Cemetery, Motley, Minnesota.

Copyright © 2012 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past