My grandmother,
Doris Wade Smith, always talked about her favorite aunt, Wave Bruce Warner, who was married to a baseball scout, Jack Warner, but I never had the pleasure of meeting either of them that I remember. After my grandmother died in 2005 and we cleaned out her apartment, I took a number of things from her apartment including letters, mementos, etc. Recently I delved briefly into the genealogy of her aunt, my grand-aunt, and her husband, John Ralph "Jack" Warner and I was able to purchase this baseball card for Jack Warner on E-Bay. . My grandmother always spoke fondly and with pride of her Aunt Wave and Uncle Jack who lived in Los Angeles. Wave sent her correspondence and gifts on many occasions.
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| Wave Bruce Warner |
Jack Warner was born in Evansville, IN on 29 Aug 1903. I don't have much information yet on how or when Jack and Wave met up, I assume he moved to Mt. Vernon, Il at some time between his birth in 1903 and about 1928 when I believe they were married. They were living together in the 1930 Jefferson County, IL census with Wave's parent's Frank and Eva Talley.
At some point, Jack went on to become a major league baseball player (see
Wikipedia) for eight seasons in the major leagues playing first for the Detroit Tigers (1925 -28), then the Brooklyn Dodgers (1929 -1931), and the Philadelphia Phillies (1932). When his playing career concluded, Jack became a scout for the Chicago Cubs in their farm system and spent twelve seasons as a coach for the Los Angeles Angels. He died on 13 Mar 1986 at age 82 in Mt. Vernon, Il and is buried next to his wife Wave in
Memorial Gardens Cemetery. I wish I had the chance to meet and talk to Wave and Jack, but am glad to be able to have this chance get to know them through the wonderful world of the Internet!
SO jealous of your Uncle Jack! He and Wave (great name) must have been the glam relatives.
ReplyDeleteI guess they were the "glam" relatives - if I ever met them, I was too young to remember. My grandmother always talked a lot about them, but when you are young you don't pay too much attention to that stuff. Wish I had listened better now!
ReplyDeleteWave is really an unique name - it's probably safe to say that she was never able to find a coffee cup with her name on it in the stores. I wonder if there was a story about the origin - it's really cute.
ReplyDeleteThat must have been very cool to find his baseball card on ebay!
Haha! I bet she didn't have a coffee cup! I have no idea as to the origin of her name, I wonder if my mother knows, probably not. She had like 6 or 7 other sisters (some half-sisters) two of them were named Fern and Opal.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was excited to buy that card, I actually found two different ones that I purchased.
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