Leona Rose Vadnais and Thomas William Whitrock (Part 2 of 3)

Leona’s future husband, Thomas William Whitrock was born on September 8, 1920 in Lincoln Township on the east side of White Bear Lake.¹⁴  At the time of his birth, his father Charles Frank was 38 years old and his mother Agnes Genevieve (Kelley) was 32 years.  Thomas (Tom) was the last of 4 children born to the couple.  His 3 siblings were: Evelyn, Frank and John.  Tom’s parents originally had lived in St. Paul where Charles was an assistant cashier for the Northern Pacific Railway.¹⁵  In the early 1900s during the summer the family camped at the end of Fir Street in Mahtomedi.  Charles would take the train to work each day while the family stayed at the campsite.  Eventually the family built a permanent home at 71 Fir Street in Mahtomedi where Tom and his siblings would grow up.

Tom was baptized at St Peter’s Church in North St. Paul.¹⁶

Tom spent majority of his life living in the Mahtomedi area.  He is enumerated with his family in the 1930 U.S. census, the only census that includes the entire family.¹⁷

Tom attended Mahtomedi School for his elementary education followed by Lincolntown High School.

Tom’s brother John passed away in 1935 and by the 1940 U.S. census, he was the last of the children living with his parents.^{18, 19}  The 1940 U.S. census states that Tom is 19 years old and he has completed his 3^rd year of high school.  Tom was in his senior year when the census was taken and he graduated from Lincolntown High School in 1940 as a member of the first class to graduate from that school.

Family records show that Tom attended Dunwoody Institute where he studied heating and refrigeration.²⁰

Like other men his age, Tom registered for the WWII draft on February 14, 1942.  His draft registration shows that he is working for Northern Pump Company in Minneapolis and living at home with his parents.²¹  For some medical reason he wasn’t drafted.

I don’t know exactly when, but Tom and Leona met at Kohler’s Romance Parlors in White Bear Lake.  From what I was told, Leona and her best friend Helen Drewlo, met Tom and his friend “PeeWee” (Clarence Munson) during a visit to the ice cream shop.  Leona ended up dating and marrying Tom and Helen ended up dating and marrying Clarence Munson; there truly was romance at Kohler’s Romance Parlors.   

Tom and Leona were married at St. Mary of the Lake Church, White Bear Lake on Saturday, February 20, 1943.²²  Tom was 22 years old and Leona was 19 years old.

The following week the White Bear Press gave a lovely description of the nuptials.²³

A second newspaper article was published after they returned from their honeymoon. 

Most of the information in the second article is the same as the first article, except for where Tom and Leona would be living upon their return.  The first article states they would be at home at Bella Vista and the second article puts their home at Forest Heights.  Bella Vista was the name given to an area in Mahtomedi that shared a dock at the end of Fir Street on White Bear Lake, the street where Tom’s parents lived. Forest Heights was the name given to another area in Mahtomedi that also shared a dock on White Bear Lake.  Park Place was a part of the Forest Heights area, so I assume that upon their return from honeymooning in Chicago they moved into the home at 420 Park Place where all of their children were raised.    

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for visiting, come back soon,
Cynthia

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Footnotes for Leona Rose Vadnais and Thomas William Whitrock (Part 2 of 3) post