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Note: Notes for DeWitt Robert Corry: He was often known as "De".
As a child, De lived in Ohio, then Indiana, then New Mexico, then in Santa Barbara, California.
After high school, De worked for a while on oil tankers just off the California coast. In 1935 or shortly after that, De's parents and some siblings moved back to Ohio. De was old enough to stay in California, but he went with the family, apparently to help his father take care of De's severely disabled brother Chester Eugene Corry, nicknamed Bunny.
On December 22, 1943, at the age of 28, in Toledo, Ohio, DeWitt enlisted in the U.S. Army.
DeWitt became paralyzed below his waist when he was shot in Italy in 1944 during World War 2. During his recovery, he met his future wife, Margaret Mary Parker, known as Marge. She was a registered nurse at the Vaughan Veterans' Hospital, in Hines, Illinois, which is just west of Chicago. That hospital still exists, officially known as the Edward Hines, Jr. V.A. Hospital. It is at 5000 S. 5th Ave., Hines, Illinois.
DeWitt and Marge married on October 21, 1947, in Adell, Wisconsin. The church was about five miles from the farm where Marge's parents and some of Marge's younger siblings lived. The October 24th <i>Sheboygan Press</i> contained a story about the wedding: <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/9SKseSoW5dxKaYAQA">Story</a>
De and Marge soon moved to southern California. By the early 1950s at the latest, they lived in a one story corner lot home at 402 25th Street, in Santa Monica, in Los Angeles County.
Due to his war injury, De had not only lost the ability to use his legs, he also lost the ability to sweat. So he needed to live somewhere where the humidity was low, and where the temperatures did not get very hot.
The couple adopted a son, Michael Robert Corry, and a daughter, Patricia Mary Corry. DeWitt lived the last 54 years of his life in a wheelchair, at that same house on 25th Street. He was able to drive vehicles that had been customized with hand controls for acceleration and braking.
DeWitt worked for years for Hughes Aircraft in west Los Angeles, which was owned by the well known Howard Hughes. DeWitt liked and respected Howard Hughes because Hughes was willing to hire disabled war veterans to work for him.
Two 750 foot long side-by-side aircraft assembly hangars built by Hughes in 1943 to make aircraft, still exist. The location is the intersection of Bluff Creek Drive and Campus Center Drive in the Playa Vista neighborhood in west Los Angeles. The buildings have been converted into offices named Google Spruce Goose, in honor of the iconic airplane which was one of the aircraft that had been built in those hangars.
Later, DeWitt worked on watches in his son's former bedroom in their house.
DeWitt lived the last 54 years of his life in a wheelchair, at that same house on 25th Street. He was able to drive vehicles that had been customized with hand controls for acceleration and braking.
De certainly could have been bitter about being paralyzed below his waist as a young man. But if he was, you could never discern that. He was the nicest man you could ever meet.
After his wonderful wife Marge died in 1978 at the young age of 57, due to cancer, De's sisters Theresa and Barbara moved in and helped him for two decades.
DeWitt's SSN was 281-54-2871.
DeWitt's FindAGrave memorial includes a photo of he and Marge, and photo of their grave marker: <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/114024501/dewitt-robert-corry">Memorial</a>
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