Whitrock Thomas William

As mentioned in part 2, upon returning from their honeymoon, it is likely that Tom and Leona moved into the home at 420 Park Place in Mahtomedi where they would raise all of their children.  Tom was familiar with the house, which had been built around 1929, because when he was younger he had done odd jobs for the couple that originally owned it.  The house was a duplex, upper and lower, and there was a period of time in the 1950s when Leona’s sister Florence and her children lived in the lower part after Florence’s husband passed away.

Tom was 27 years old and Leona was 25 years old when their first child, Kathleen Mary (Kathy) was born on May 1, 1948.²⁵  The 1950 U.S. census enumerates the family at 420 Park Place, Mahtomedi.  Tom is shown as servicing refrigeration for a retail electrical office.²⁶

Over the next 16 years or so, Leona would give birth to 4 more children: Charlene Ann born on September 25, 1951, Marlene Mona born on March 23, 1953, Thomas William Jr. born on December 20, 1955 and LeeAnn Mary born on December 18, 1966.^{27, 28, 29, 30}  All of the children would grow up in the home on Park Place.

From about 1960 until his retirement in 1982, at 62 years old, Tom worked for Leona’s brothers and father in the Vadnais family business, White Bear Oil Company.  He was in charge of residential furnace installations and repairs related to the heating oil part of the company.

During my search for information about Leona and Tom I learned that they were musical.  Leona played the accordion and Tom had a Magnus Chord organ on which he would often play his favorite song, “Beautiful Dreamer.”  Can you hear it playing on the organ?

Leona, like many women of that era, did not pursue a working career.  However, that does not mean that she didn’t take on other jobs on top of her full-time job raising the children.  I know that over time she had a few piece-work type jobs she did in her spare time at home.  I don’t know for how long, but she also worked at the then newly-built First State Bank on Clark Avenue in White Bear Lake (now the US Bank building) as a bookkeeping machine operator and in the early 1990s she worked one summer with her sister Mona at MSI Insurance.

In February of 1993, Leona and Tom celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary.  Leona was the fourth of her siblings to celebrate the momentous occasion and there would be four other siblings after her that would also live to celebrate 50 years of marriage.  Only her parents Adlore and Ellen and her brother Jack and his wife Bev would live to celebrate their 60^th wedding anniversaries.

About 1997, Tom and Leona sold their home at 420 Park Place; they had lived there for over 50 years.  The couple moved into an apartment at Briarcliff in Mahtomedi.

Tom’s health eventually forced him into full-time care at White Bear Care Center.  He passed away on Tuesday, August 9, 2002 at 81 years, 11 months and 1 day old.³³  His 2 brothers, Frank and John, had preceded him in death and his only sister, Evelyn, survived him by another 4 years.

A Mass of Christian burial was held for Tom at St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church on Tuesday, August 13, 2002.

On April 4, 2003, Leona celebrated her 80^th birthday.

Leona’s health was failing.  She was at the White Bear Care Center when she passed away on Saturday, August 9, 2003, exactly 1 year to the day after Tom’s passing.  She was 80 years, 4 months and 5 days old.³⁵

A Mass of Christian Burial was held for Leona on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 after which she was laid to rest with her husband Tom at St Mary’s Cemetery, White Bear Lake, Minnesota. ³⁷

I thought it fitting to end the post with a heartfelt signature written a long time ago by Leona (Lee) and Tom.

Thanks for visiting, come back soon,
Cynthia

© 2025 Copyright by Cynthia Vadnais, All Rights Reserved

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Footnotes for Leona Rose Vadnais and Thomas William Whitrock (Part 3 of 3) post