Down The Rabbit Hole: The Women of Talmadge #4

This journey begins at 4604 49th Street. This house was built in 1941 and was purchased by Eleanore M. Gaulin. Since homes bought by women within Talmadge Park Estates Historic District have always captured my interest, down the rabbit hole I went. Of all my digs this is the saddest.

It became apparent early on that Eleanore was widowed the same year she purchased the house. Her husband Victor S. Gaulin (34) had survived a parachute jump in a Texas bomber mishap on New Years Eve 1940. Three other parachuters also survived and one perished. As the 4 survivors and a team of investigators were flying back to San Diego their plane crashed into Mother Grundy Peak. They were only 20 feet from the top of the ridge and 20 miles from the airport in San Diego. Heavy fog was blamed for the accident. All 11 occupants died in the crash including Eleanore’s husband, Lieut. Victor S. Gaulin. This tragedy happened on January 4, 1941.

At the time of Victor’s death, Eleanore was 28 years old and had a one-year-old son, Richard, and a 2-month-old daughter, Diane. I cannot imagine how Eleanore managed so much profound grief at such a vulnerable time in her young life. I can only hope that her new Talmadge neighbors would have offered her support.

As I was reading about Victor’s untimely death, I stumbled onto his West Point Yearbook. He spoke French and was a gifted  linguist. He was a good lacrosse player and a bit of a lady’s man. Here is a picture of him from his 1930 Yearbook.

According to the 1940 U.S. Census, Eleanore had a 4-year college degree, which allowed her to start working as a substitute teacher the year her husband died. By 1948, Eleanore was a research assistant at the Board of Education. That remained her job until she retired.

Here she is pictured in the San Diego Evening Tribune on March 30, 1949, doing her job as a research assistant. Eleanore is in the center of the picture.

Eleanore remained at 4604 49th Street until 1961 when she remarried after 20 years of being widowed. She married another West Point Graduate who was a retired USN Captain (1930-1960). His name was Captain Roy A. Newton. In 1943, Roy was a recipient of the US Navy Cross for his bravery as the Lieutenant Commander of the Destroyer U.S.S. Stack in the South Pacific (Battle of Vella Gulf).

I was also able to find Roy’s West Point Yearbook, from 1930. He too, graduated from the Naval Academy the same year as Victor. I am sure that Eleanore’s first husband and second husband would have known one another from their time at West Point. Roy was called “Fig” due to his last name being Newton. He was from Gainesville, Texas and was described as a “true son of the Long Star State.”  Here is his Yearbook photo from 1930.

The Yearbook describes his relationship with women as follows:

“He has always tried to tell us that women mean nothing to him, that he is totally impervious to the charms of the wily species, but every hop always finds Newt with one of the fairest of the fair and at that not always confining his attentions to the “one he brung.”

Roy was married to Mary E. Newton from May 16,1931 until her death on August 13, 1960. She died at the age of 51. They had been married for 29 years, had 2 children, and lived in the Philippines and Panama. Because she was married to a Naval Officer Mary was buried at Rosecrans National Cemetery.

Eight months after Mary’s death, Roy married Eleanore on April 15, 1961. This was 20 years after the death of her first husband. So many questions…did they know each other from before? Had Victor and Roy been friends at West Point? Had Eleanore and Roy always been fond of one another? Had Eleanore been waiting for Roy all these years, or was it just a big coincidence that their paths crossed? All I know is when Roy died on January 12, 1984, at the age of 77 he chose not to be buried with his first wife at Fort Rosecrans but decided instead to share an urn with Eleanore at Greenwood Memorial Park. I cannot help but think that this final life decision had something to do with the deep love they had for one another. Eleanore died on February 14, 2004, Valentine’s Day, 20 years after her second husband had passed away. She was 92 years old.

After marrying Roy, in 1961, Eleanore left 49th Street and moved to 5691 Genoa Dr. in San Carlos. Her son, Richard V. Gaulin, continued to live with his wife at 4604 49th Street until the 1980s.