I started to forego further investigation of a 1943 official US Navy postcard on my list of cards to research. Nothing of real interest jumped out at me right away, so it seemed fruitless to continue on.
Deciding that I already had too much time invested, a decision was made to continue forward. It took some real sleuthing to find what I did, with a significant amount of depressing information uncovered. I should’ve stopped when I could.
Someone named Helen mailed the colorful card from Santa Barbara, California, on April 18, 1943, to Mr. & Mrs. Evert Sutphin in Galva, Kansas. Helen’s letter on the back of the postcard is dated April 17.
“Dearest folks,
Here is your wandering child again, are you missing me much? We came down here yesterday & are going to stay a day or two. Sure is a pretty town. Haven’t heard from Barney yet, sure hope I get to see him here, he’s just a little ways from where we were. Be good & I’ll see you soon. Love Helen.”
Written in a corner with the same handwriting is another message,
“Malena said to tell you hello.”
Galva is a small town in McPherson County, Kansas, with a population of around 800. The community was originally called Liberty for approximately 10 years. When the railroad was rerouted and didn’t pass close enough to Liberty for a train to stop, townspeople pulled up stakes and moved closer to the rails. This new location was called Galva, named after Galva, Illinois.
Evert Sutphin was Helen’s father. He worked in Galva as a machinist and welder. His wife, and Helen’s mother, Edna, was a stay-at-home mom. Helen had two younger brothers, Richard and Frear.
When the postcard was sent, it’s possible Helen and Malena were attempting to see their husbands or boyfriends off from Santa Barbara before they departed for overseas duty. Malena’s husband, Byron Gilman Swain, fought in the war, as did Helen’s boyfriend, and ultimately her husband, Dean Donald Pruitt. I couldn’t find out if Helen and Dean were married before he left.
Malena’s husband worked for Shell Oil Company before the war started, as did one of Helen’s brothers. That may be how Malena and Byron Swain met. Their families hailed from the same general area of Kansas.
Dean Donald Pruitt was one of the first Marines who went ashore on a beach in Normandy on what’s called D-Day. It was June 6, 1944. Corporal Pruitt was severely injured when a German artillery shell exploded near him. Unfortunately, one of his legs had to be amputated.
Byron Gilman Swain suffered no injuries, and he resumed working for Shell after being discharged from the service in 1944. Dean Donald Pruitt wasn’t as fortunate. Through the Veterans’ Association, he underwent training to become an automotive body and paint specialist. Even with a prosthetic leg, Dean was able to master the difficult trade.
Ford Motor Company gave a couple of injured Wichita vets new vehicles in 1946, as part of an appreciation program for those who served this country and came home disabled. Pruitt was one of them. Dean Donald Pruott’s Ford Deluxe had special pedals to accommodate his wooden leg.
In 1949, while attempting to pass another car, he sideswiped a vehicle with his automobile and crashed. Pruitt wasn’t injured, but those in the two other vehicles were seriously hurt. Dean Pruitt’s Ford Deluxe was severely damaged, and he was cited for drinking and driving.
Eleven years later, in 1961, Evert Sutphin’s wife, and Helen’s mom, Edna, was killed in a head-on collision with a larger truck. Another woman in Edna Pruitt’s vehicle was also fatally injured. Wet roads were to blame.
Mr. Evert Sutphin passed in 1966 at the age of 71. Helen Sutphin-Pruitt died of cancer in 1971 at the age of 64. Her husband, Dean Pruitt, lived to be 58, dying in 1981.
Frear Sutphin passed at the young age of 55 in 1974. Richard Wayne Sutphin passed away in 1984. He was only 57. When it comes to longevity, the Sutphins with Dean Donald Pruitt did not fare so well.
Byron Gilman Swain passed away in 1987 at age 76. His wife, Malena Jane Berglund-Swain, survived the longest, taking her last breath on June 7, 1992, living to be 81. She was the hardest for me to track down, and if it hadn’t been for Malena’s unique name, I wouldn’t have succeeded.
All of this genealogical information was obtained from researching a simple picture postcard!
I like to write junk... 