Peltier Roy Henry

With Alice now residing in St. Paul, the opportunity was there for Roy and Alice to meet.  Maybe it was at the St. Paul Farmer’s Market where the Peltier family would go to sell their produce or possibly at a dance where Roy and Alice caught the eye of one another.  Somehow they got together and fell in love.

On November 14, 1931 Roy and Alice were united in marriage at St. John’s Church, Little Canada.  Father Combettes performed the ceremony between the Catholic and the Lutheran.¹²

After their marriage Alice and Roy moved into the old house on the Peltier family farm, where they lived with Roy’s Uncle Leon.  Slightly less than 5 months later, on April 4, 1932, Alice gave birth to identical twin daughters, Vera Caroline and Verna Celestine.^{13, 14}  Alice was 20 years old and Roy was 24 years old.

Barely over one year after giving birth to the twins, on April 9, 1933, Alice gave birth to another daughter, Beverly (Bev) Ann.¹⁵  The family would continue to grow with Alice giving birth to 6 more children over the next 11 years: Lloyd Henry (September 8, 1934), Gerald Wayne (January 5, 1937), Darlene Mary (April 29, 1938), Judith Ann (September 1, 1941), Robert James (June 6, 1943) and Donald Albert (August 7, 1944).^{16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21}

Based on information provided on the 1940 U.S. census I assume that Roy and Alice lived on the Peltier family farm until sometime before 1940. At the time of the census, the family is living in a rental at 178 Edmund Street in St. Paul.  Roy is noted as having finished the 8^th grade and he is a W.P.A. (Works Project Administration) laborer on a water project.²²   

Roy registered for the draft on October 16, 1940.²³  Men filled out registration cards between 1940 and 1947 under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 — the first peacetime draft in U.S. history, signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Being that Roy had a wife and 6 children to support, I can’t imagine he was even considered to serve.

By 1944, the St. Paul City Directory shows the family living on “White Bear Av 2 s of Upper Afton Road.”  Roy is listed as a defense worker.²⁴

The 1948 St. Paul City Directory shows the family living at 595 Sims Avenue, St. Paul.  Alice works as a machine operator for Charles Weinhagen and Company, the same company where her sister-in-law Avis works.  Roy works as a driver for Frank L. Peterson and Son, a moving and coal delivery company.  Roy’s brother Clem is also employed by Frank L. Peterson and Son.²⁵

September 1949 marked the one year that all 9 of Roy and Alice’s children were enrolled in school.  Don, the youngest, started kindergarten and the twins, Vera and Verna, began their last year of education and would graduate from Johnson High School the following spring.

The 1950 U.S. census shows the entire family still residing at 595 Sims Avenue.  Roy is a truck driver and I believe that he has continued driving for Frank L. Peterson and Son even though the census states “retail fuel and transport company.”  The 3 oldest girls, Vera, Verna and Bev all are clerks in a retail drug store and Lloyd, the eldest of the boys, is a paper carrier.  Alice is shown as not working outside the home.²⁷

Between 1951 and 1956 the 4 oldest daughters: Vera, Bev, Verna and Darlene were married.^{28, 29, 30, 31}  Roy would not live to see the rest of his children get married.

Roy passed away on Tuesday, April 2, 1957 at Mounds Park Hospital at 49 years, 2 months and 21 days old.  The primary cause of death was lung and brain cancer which he was diagnosed with 6 months earlier.³²  Alice was a widow at 45 years old with 4 sons and a daughter still at home.  He was also survived by his mother and 5 of his siblings.

Services for Roy were held on Saturday, April 6, 1957 at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in St. Paul after which he was laid to rest at St. John’s Cemetery in Little Canada.³³

Alice would live almost another 40 years after Roy.  Over the years immediate and extended family, both quite large, would keep her company and keep her occupied.

Alice passed away at the White Bear Care Center on Monday, February 17, 1997 at 85 years, 8 months and 6 days old.  Her cause of death is listed as a cerebrovascular accident (a stroke).³⁵

Services for Alice were held at St. John’s Church in Little Canada on Friday, February 21, 1997.  She was then laid to rest next to her husband in St. John’s Cemetery.

Thanks for visiting, come back soon,
Cynthia

© 2025 Copyright by Cynthia Vadnais, All Rights Reserved

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Footnotes for Roy Henry Peltier and Alice Ruth Flom (Part 2 of 2) post