|
a.
|
Note: My mother was born Winifred Seney in the Florence Crittendon Home for Unwed Mothers in Kansas City MO 10 Nov 1921. According the the handwritten birth certificate filled out the day of her birth, her mother was May Seney of Big Cabin OK and her father was Everett Radford of nearby Vinita OK.
The head nurse and administrator of the home, Dana Emma Kent, decided, with the consent of both parents, to raise Winifred as her child and called her Susan Winifred Kent. There never was a legal adoption. Susie grew up in the home, where her foster mother had a separate apartment. You will find her there in the 1930 census. Both natural parents visited from time to time (separately) for the first few years of her life. The visits were warm and affectionate. Susie called them Mom and Dad. They brought gifts and warm memories which she retained for the rest of her life. May stopped visiting when she married in 1928 and Everett stopped slightly before that, apparently when he moved to California.
Susie attended a nearby Catholic girls school, although she was raised as a Baptist. She was a top student and developed a lasting interest in theater and was noted for her acting ability. She said later it was her chance to BE somebody else for a while. Dana Kent was a warm, very gracious Christian woman who was deeply loved by Susie. But I think Susie also felt somewhat apart from others, because she did not grow up in a "normal" home environment. When she was 16, one month after her high school graduation, Dana died of cancer. Dana's sister, Olla De Vol, gave Susie a home thereafter. Olla was very much like her sister in disposition.
Susie attended Lindenwood College for 2 years and then she went to the University of Iowa at Des Moines, where she graduated. Her interests were Theater Arts and Speech Therapy which she planned to teach. She had her named changed legally to Susan Winifred Kent about this time in Ottumwa Iowa where Olla lived.
Peal Harbor happened during her senior year and she enlisted in the Navy upon graduation. She chose the Navy over the Army because they had better looking uniforms. Once enlisted she passed a mechanical aptitude test with one of the highest scores the instructors had seen (Women weren't supposed to do that!). She was assigned as a link trainer, that is she taught aspiring pilots to fly in the simulators (Link trainers).
While stationed at the Beeville Naval Air Station in TX she met John Hann while waiting for a light at a corner. There relationship got off to a slow start , but they eventually married 30 Oct 1943. When Susie became pregnant the following spring, she was discharged and went to live with his parents in Compton CA. In those days families put a star in the window for every child they had in the armed forces. The Hanns had two sons serving, but Susie was enchanted to see that they had three stars in the window when she arrived!
John returned from he war in Oct of 1945 and they lived there next door to the mortuary the family owned until they moved to Merced, CA in 1947 where they spent the rest of their lives. Susie was a housewife in the early years, then a school teacher for one year, and finally a social worker in the Welfare Dept for the rest of her working years. She particularly liked the more technical aspects of her job and was eventually assigned to write policy and reports.
Her interest in theater continued all her life and she was active in the local theater group until she died. She had a calm practical approach to life and gave thoughtful advice only if asked. I never heard her say an unkind thing about anyone, even in private.
She was a smoker all her adult life and she died of lung cancer 8 Mar 1991.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
California Death Index, 1940-1997
about Susan Kent Hann
Name: Susan Kent Hann
Social Security #: 560383414
Sex: FEMALE
Birth Date: 10 Nov 1921
Birthplace: Missouri
Death Date: 8 Mar 1991
Death Place: Merced
Mother's Maiden Name: Seney
Father's Surname: Bradford
--------------------------------------------
|
