I was asked by a friend to try to perform my wizardry on another postcard, this after saying I was done for the year. One more wasn’t going to hurt me, so I agreed. The person asking me couldn’t decipher the name of the card recipient. Using my magnifying glass, it eventually came into focus.
Someone named Goletti sent this greeting card to Aner Covert in Garden City, Kansas, on December 22, 1910. Goletti’s Christmas card was mailed from the rough and tumble mining town of Oatman, Arizona. Goletti’s message simply says:
“We wish you a Merry X-mas and Happy New Year.
Goletti & H”
Aner Bruce Covert was born on September 19, 1905, in Garden City, Kansas. His parents were Erwin and Sarah, with one older sister living at home in 1910. Her name was Lora. The census report shows that the Coverts had a servant named Pearl Lowes, yet by 1920, Pearl no longer lived with the family.
Aner went to school in Garden City and was the captain of their high school football team. During the summer, he worked in a grocery store, bakery, and helped harvest crops, while performing other labor-intensive jobs. His name is mentioned as being an actor in several school plays.
During those years after high school, Aner attended Citizens Military Training Camp in Fort Leavenworth, where he was the top marksman with a rifle. Aner Covert spent two years after leaving the military school in Lawrence, at Kansas State University. Once again, his name appears in the programs for local acting presentations.
In 1924, the young man was involved in a serious automobile accident in Dodge City with another vehicle. It sounds like both parties were racing, with Covert’s car described as a “stripped down jitney.” That’s what a hotrod was called back then.
Aner Bruce Covert is found living at a boarding house in Los Angeles in 1925, with 4 other single guys, where he’s pursuing an acting career. The struggling and out-of-work actor also did stage setup and lighting for the movie industry.
This manual labor brought in enough money for room and board, along with putting food on the table. I found no mention of him appearing in movies at that time.
During World War II, he enlisted in the Army on March 23, 1942, and was discharged on July 17, 1945. Before his stint in the service, Aner had married and then quickly divorced. The name of this woman is unknown.
On December 14, 1946, Covert wed Mary Patricia Patten, and they appear to have been divorced by 1955. Ultimately, his dream of being another Clark Gable was severely crushed, like so many other aspiring actors and actresses.
Aner kept out of the public eye for at least 20 years before reemerging in Arizona, where he worked as a postal clerk. Perhaps he was using a stage name during those lost years? The man died on October 21, 1994, in Sahuarita, Arizona, at the age of 90.
The sender of the Oatman postcard, Goletti, could not be identified without having more information, especially his last name.
In 1992, Patricia P. Covert, Aner Bruce Covert’s second ex-wife, passed away in Harris, Texas.
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