My Lacey Grandparents During World War II

I recently finished scanning some photos of my Lacey grandparents from the early years of their marriage. David Austin Lacey and Jeanette Mary Beck met in 1943 and were married on April 24, 1944 at Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside, California.

My grandfather was serving in the U.S. Navy when he met my grandmother. He had grown up in Alameda, in Northern California, but was sent to San Diego County after enlisting in the Navy in February 1942. David was assigned to the Naval Ammunition Depot, located on the east side of Camp Pendleton Marine Base, in Fallbrook. My grandmother also found herself in Fallbrook when, in 1943, her father, George Beck, bought an adobe house on eleven acres on Olive Hill Road. Jeanette took a clerical job on Camp Pendleton Marine Base, and that's where she met David.

This photo is labeled, in my grandmother's handwriting, "first photo together." It was taken in November 1943. I am guessing this is at the Beck home in Fallbrook.

This photo of my grandmother is labeled "on honeymoon with Tommie" and was taken in May 1943. I'm not sure where David and Jeanette honeymooned or who Tommie was, but it's a sweet photo.

Several of the photos of David and Jeanette during 1944 and 1945 are labeled "the projects," which was a reference to the military housing built for U.S. Navy workers on the east side of Camp Pendleton. They lived in this housing until 1955, when Jeanette's father sold them the adobe house on Olive Hill Road. Their first house on base appears rather modest in photos, but my father says that he remembers living in two-story officers' quarters before they moved off the base, so they must have upgraded at some point between 1944 and 1955. It is curious that David and Jeanette lived in officers' quarters, as my grandfather was never an officer. My father wonders if his parents may have been given better housing due to my grandmother's bout with polio and her resulting partial paralysis, which occurred in 1949.

Photos of my grandparents at their first home together in April 1944.

There are a number of photos of David and Jeanette from around this time, often posing with their dog, Candy. 

David and Jeanette took these photos at Mission San Luis Rey in August 1944. They had been married at the mission five months prior.

In early 1945, David received muster orders from the Navy and was assigned to the USS Wateree. In April 1945, one year after David and Jeanette were married, he shipped out for service in the South Pacific. These photos were taken at the adobe house in Fallbrook before his departure. Jeanette was seven months pregnant when he left.

David and Jeanette's first child was born in June 1945, while David was away serving on the USS Wateree. David returned from his service in September 1945, less than a month before the USS Wateree was sunk by Typhoon Louise in Okinawa, Japan. This photo of David and his daughter was taken in November 1945. They are labeled "Alameda," so David and Jeanette must have been visiting David's father, Thomas Lacey. He was living in the family home on Pearl Street in Alameda at that time. In November 1945, they also attended the wedding of David's brother Herbert Lacey, likely in nearby Fremont, California.

These photos of David were taken on that same visit to Alameda.

After World War II, my grandfather left the Navy but continued to work on Camp Pendleton Marine Base as a civilian. He was a warehouse foreman, a job he never particularly enjoyed. After the war, to keep former servicemen employed, the base hired multiple people for roles that could have been done by one person. My grandfather was essentially doing the same job as another person, and that person was a Marine. It made for a frustrating experience. David was an outgoing and fun-loving person, though, and my grandparents had a wide circle of good friends. My father recalls that most of them were commanders and ranking Navy officers. 

David and Jeanette, at right, with friends Shel and Jeanne in 1944

In 1955, David and Jeanette settled into the house on Olive Hill Road, where they raised their three children and lived the rest of their lives. These photos of their early years together are a treasure.

The Colemans & Dwyers: Kathleen Coleman In America

This is the eighth post in a series about my Coleman and Dwyer ancestors.

Kathleen Coleman, center, on board the ship to America.  Her friend Florence is beside her.

At the age of nineteen, Kathleen Coleman found herself essentially orphaned. Her mother was dead and her father was incommunicado in South Africa. Her younger brother, Albert, had died years earlier. Kathleen and her sister, Maggie, were left to fend for themselves. We know very little about what happened during the years between 1905, when Mary Dwyer Coleman committed suicide, and 1919, when Kathleen sailed to America. I believe that Maggie Coleman died sometime in these years, but I have not found a death record for her. I'm continuing to work on this.

Kathleen Coleman sailed from Australia to Canada in 1919, arriving in Vancouver in October of that year. Photos of her voyage show her nicely dressed and lounging on deck with a group of smiling friends. In this group was her best friend, Florence Cornish, with whom she shared a strong and lasting bond.   Florence and Kathleen traded photos and letters regularly for the rest of their lives.

After arriving in Vancouver, Kathleen sailed to Seattle. The ship’s manifest lists her as a bookkeeper whose final destination was San Francisco. On the manifest, Kathleen states that she has no family in the country of her origin, but does say that her mother was Mary of Melbourne. However, Kathleen did not settle in San Francisco. She headed south to Los Angeles, where she met her future husband.

Kathleen Coleman and George Beck on their wedding day. Los Angeles, 1921.

On September 21, 1921, Kathleen Coleman married George Beck (formerly Gerhardus Marinus Beukenkamp), a Dutch immigrant, in Los Angeles, California at City Hall. Kathleen’s friend Florence Cornish was a witness at the ceremony.

Kathleen and George's marriage record.

 Kathleen and George settled in Eagle Rock, California, a town located just northeast of Los Angeles. They had two daughters, Margaret Florence Beck and Jeanette Mary Beck. George first owned a used car lot and then was the owner and operator of a hardware store. With the advent of World War II, George could no longer get materials to stock the hardware store. In 1943, he sold the property and moved with his family to Fallbrook, a small country town in northern San Diego County.

Kathleen with daughters Margaret and Jeanette in Eagle Rock.  Around 1928.

In Fallbrook, George bought twenty-three acres of land and an adobe house. In 1955, he sold the upper five acres, including the home, to his daughter Jeanette and her husband David Lacey. George and Kathleen moved to Del Mar. Kathleen became ill in 1970 and was sent to Tri-City Hospital in Oceanside. From there, she was transferred to a convalescent home in Fallbrook, where she died on February 27, 1970. George lived in Del Mar until his death on July 2, 1973.

For all the turmoil and heartbreak Kathleen encountered during the years of her childhood, she seems to have been amazingly resilient. Those who knew her recall her warmth, humor, and devotion to her daughters. If she had not made the brave decision to cross an ocean alone and start a new life in a foreign country, none of us would be here.

Next, some final thoughts on the Colemans and Dwyers, plus information about the relatives who remain in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand.

Granny: Jeanette Beck Lacey

The next several posts will be a series about my Coleman and Dwyer ancestors. I'd like to kick it off with a post devoted to my paternal grandmother, Jeanette Mary Beck. It's her maternal line that I'll discuss later in the week.

Jeanette Mary Beck Lacey

Jeanette Mary Beck was born December 23, 1925 in Eagle Rock, California, the younger of two daughters born to George Martin Beck and Kathleen Meldon Coleman. She was named for her grandmothers, Jannetje Strijder and Mary Dwyer, but went by the nickname Jeanne.

Jeanette (left) with her sister Margaret

Jeanette and Margaret wih their mother, Kathleen

She met my grandfather, David Austin Lacey, at Camp Pendleton Marine Base in Oceanside, California. They were both working there at the time. David was the son of Thomas Lacey and Sarah Kilcullen, Irish immigrants. On April 29, 1944, Jeanette and David were married at Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside, California. They settled in Fallbrook, California, in an old adobe home surrounded by acres of open land and avocado trees. There, they raised three children, Sharon, Michael and David. Jeanette died on January 7, 2001 in Fallbrook, a grandmother of eleven. She would now be a great-grandmother of ten.

David and Jeanette as newlyweds

Jeanette at her first home as a newlywed, on Camp Pendleton Marine Base

Known to me and my siblings as “Granny,” to some of my cousins as “Grandma,” and at least one of my cousins as “Lovey,” she was a big personality in a little body. Funny, brutally honest, intellectually curious, and thoroughly determined and self-sufficient, Granny was one of the most unique and wonderful people I’m sure I’ll ever know. I have so many treasured memories of her that I wouldn’t know where to start in recounting them. When my children are older and I tell them about their great-grandmother, I’ll probably start with the following anecdotes.

Granny contracted polio in 1949, while pregnant with my father, her youngest child. The illness paralyzed her left arm, and she carried it in a sling for the rest of her life. True to Granny’s nature, she went on as though she had no disability, cooking large meals for the extended family in her little kitchen, hand washing the dishes (we all pitched in) and carving the Thanksgiving turkey with an electric knife. She never complained. When meeting new people, they would invariably ask her how she’d broken her arm. Sometimes she told them the truth; sometimes she made up a crazy story. Granny was full of humor and wild stories. Self-pity was not in her makeup.

Her children grown and out of the house, Granny decided that she wanted to travel. She wanted to see The Netherlands, where her father was born, and the rest of Europe, as well. Sadly, my grandfather had developed agoraphobia, which kept him tethered to his home for decades. Did this stop Granny? Absolutely not. She recruited friends and family members to go with her, and off she went to see the world. She came back with stories and many albums of photos to share. She always encouraged me to have big dreams and go far-flung places, and she set an example by doing that herself. I've now been all over the world as a solo traveler, and I am certain I got those explorer genes from my Granny.

There are so many more stories, from the non-traditional Christmas dishes (one year it was paella, as I recall), to the bawdy jokes, and her subtle endorsement of all kinds of childhood mischief. She was a one-of-a-kind, irrepressible and irreplaceable. One of my very favorite images to conjure up in my head is that of her and my Grandpa standing in their driveway, waving goodbye to us as we drove away after a visit, calling out, “Vaya con Dios” after us. They did this every time. I wish I’d had more years with both of them.

Granny (center) with our family on Christmas, 2007

Granny’s father, George Beck, was from Amsterdam. I’ve discussed him a little bit in an earlier post. Her mother, Kathleen Coleman, was from Melbourne, and it’s her family I’ll be detailing in the next several posts. Let’s just say it’s quite a story.

How Many Times Was George Beck Married?

George Beck and Kathleen Coleman on their wedding day in 1921

When my paternal great-grandfather, George Beck, married my great-grandmother, Kathleen Coleman on September 14, 1921, he was the divorced father of two young girls.

George Martin Beck (who changed his name from Gerhardus Marinus Beukenkamp after emigrating to America from Amsterdam) was first married to Marie M. Iversen. Marie was also an immigrant, having been born in Norway. They wed in 1912 in Woodbury, Iowa. Together, they had the following children:

1. Julia “Julie” Evelyn Beck, b. August 22, 1912 in Nebraska; m. Carroll B. Argent; d. August 13, 2011 in Edmonds, Washington
2. Betty Irene Beck, b. December 23, 1914 in Nebraska; d. May 10, 1996 in Seattle, Washington

George and Marie were living in Nebraska when their daughters were born, but by 1919, Marie had resettled in Washington State and married August Bardahl. At first, the children seem to have stayed with George, as they appear with him in the 1920 U.S. Census in Omaha, Nebraska. However, by 1921, Julie and Betty had moved to Washington with their mother, and George was living in Los Angeles.

George married my great-grandmother, Kathleen Meldon Coleman, in Los Angeles on September 16, 1921. Kathleen was also an immigrant, having sailed to North America from Australia in 1919. George and Kathleen would soon have two daughters of their own.

1. Margaret Florence Beck, b. December 9, 1922 in Los Angeles, California; m. Claude Brenton Hoover; d. January 24, 2004 in Vista, California
2. Jeanette Mary Beck, b. December 23, 1925 in Eagle Rock, California; m. David Austin Lacey; d. January 7, 2001 in Fallbrook, California

My father requested a marriage license for George and Kathleen to store alongside some family photos. It was a great surprise to find that George Beck and Kathleen Coleman’s marriage license indicates that George had another ex-wife, and his marriage to Kathleen was actually his third marriage. Since then, my father and I have searched marriage records, both for George and Gerhardus, but have not turned up any evidence of a third wife. Perhaps the marriage took place in The Netherlands, prior to George’s departure for America, and we simply haven’t located the Dutch paperwork yet. Did a young Gerhardus flee a failed marriage in Amsterdam? He was only 21 years old when he arrived in the United States in 1909, but it's possible.

The 1920 U.S. Census indicates that George was married at that time, but Marie had moved to Washington and married August Bardahl a year earlier. Could George have (very) briefly remarried between his separation from Marie and his departure for California? I can't find any paperwork to suggest that either of these scenarios is correct.

It's possible the "3" written on the marriage license is an error, and George was only married twice, but that's quite an error to leave uncorrected. I'll continue to look for any records that might clear up this mystery.

The marriage license of George Beck and Kathleen Coleman