Lue Dean McIntosh

Lue Dean, our aunt, was born on 23 Jan. 1922 in Upshur, Texas. She grew up on her father's farm in Eastern Texas.

When Lue Dean was 21, on 31 Dec. 1941, she married 25-year-old Mr. Algie William Hopkins, the son of James Calvin Hopkins and Birdie Jackson. That must have been a great New Year's Eve! The family had a double reason to celebrate - the end of the year and the wedding.

Anyway, Algie was born on 29 August in Texas. Shortly before the wedding, he was recorded during the WW2 Army Enlistment.

Algie W Hopkins
United States World War II Army Enlistment Records (1)
Name: Algie W Hopkins
Name: HOPKINS ALGIE W
Event Type: Military Service
Event Date: 21 Jan 1941
Event Place: Ft Worth, Texas, United States
Race: White
Citizenship Status: citizen
Birth Year: 1920
Birthplace TEXAS
Education Level: 2 years of high school
Civilian Occupation: Farm hands, general farms
Marital Status: Single, without dependents
Military Rank: Private
Army Branch: Infantry
Army Component: Regular Army (including Officers, Nurses, Warrant Officers, and Enlisted Men)
Source Reference: Civil Life
Serial Number: 18038513
Affiliate ARC Identifier: 1263923
Box Film Number: 02702.127

Algie served as a Technician Fourth Grade in Company B in 373D Engineer Regiment. The man was honorably discharged on 9 Oct. 1945 (2). After the war, Algie worked as a butcher for Safeway Company. The family lived in Marshall, Texas.

Lue Dean and Algie had two sons. Sadly, before the second boy came to this world, a tragedy happened. On 20 March 1920 Algie was found dead in Dallas (3). He died from a gunshot wound. Was he shot or whether he took his own life, I do not know. Algie W Hopkins was only 26 then. He was buried at the Center Cemetery in Harleton, Harrison County, Texas.

A few years later, aunt Lou Dean remarried. Her second husband was Mr. Reuben Ezell Shadowen (b. 12 Feb. 1915, Texas), son of Major Ezell Shadowen and Malinda Pearl Breedlove.

Lue Dean and Reuben had two girls. The father of the family worked as a machine operator (3).

One day, the man got overexcited watching a baseball game in which his stepsons participated. Unfortunately, Lue Dean's husband did not return home after the game, he was taken to Markham Hospital in Longview, Texas.

Clipping source: Brewer, Orlin. The Levelland Daily Sun News (Levelland, Tex.), Vol. 17, No. 202, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 11, 1958, newspaper, June 11, 1958; Levelland, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1138933/: accessed May 7, 2019), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Plains College.

Some people say that mass sport leads to an individual injury. In case of Reuben, it actually was hypertension which he had suffered from + excitement that led to his death. Anyway, aunt Lue Dean was in mourning again. Reuben was buried on 6 June at Gregg Memorial Gardens.

Life was going on. On 14 April 1967 (4), Lou Dean McIntosh married again. That time her spouse was Mr. Price Eugene Stratton (b. 31 Dec. 1917 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma), the son of Mr. Carl H Stratton and Miss Agnes Groseclose. Price's father was a Bertillon Expert and worked for the Police (5).

By the way, Bartillon System was an identification method used in early criminology. It was based on detailed body measurements, physical description and skeleton analysis (created by Alphonse Bertillon in France in 1885). The system was later replaced by fingerprinting.

Wish I knew more about aunt Lou Dean, what she liked, what her favorite flowers were, what Price did for a living, how their life in Gregg was.

So far, I can only add another date here - the day when Lue Dean passed. It was 21 January 1992. Her body was buried in Longview, Gregg County, Texas.

PS

Terry and Keith mentioned in the clipping, the sons of Algie and Lue, are no longer alive either.

William Terry Hopkins - b. 1 Jan. 1946, Dallas, Dallas, Texas/d. 27 March 1994, Corpus Christi, Nueces, Texas
Charles Keith Hopkins - b.  29 Nov. 1946, Dallas, Dallas, Texas/d. 21 Oct. 2006, Longview, Gregg, Texas

Price Euguene Stratton passed on 17 June 2005, Polk, Texas.

Resources:
1."United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K852-GNY : 5 December 2014), Algie W Hopkins, enlisted 21 Jan 1941, Ft Worth, Texas, United States; citing "Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938-1946," database, The National Archives: Access to Archival Databases (AAD) (http://aad.archives.gov : National Archives and Records Administration, 2002); NARA NAID 1263923, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
No image available
United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946
Affiliate Publication Title Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938-1946
2. "United States Headstone Applications for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925-1949", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV1Z-H3L3 : 15 March 2018), Algie W Hopkins,.
3. "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3C4-MCC : 13 March 2018), Reuben Ezell Shadowen, 09 Jun 1958; citing certificate number 33051, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,115,365.
4. "Texas Marriages, 1966-2010," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VT2D-F28 : 6 December 2014), Price Eugene Stratton and Lue Dean Mcintosh, 14 Apr 1967; citing Gregg, Texas, United States, certificate number 027137, Vital Statistics Unit, Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin.
5. "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XCWR-761 : accessed 8 May 2019), Price Stratton in household of Carl H Stratton, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 134, sheet 7B, line 69, family 146, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1920; FHL microfilm 2,341,654.