My father, Eugene, aka "WALT" or "OBAY" to friends and family alike.
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EUGENE was born to ANNA LAURA [Cheadle] ABLES and EUGENE WALTER ABLES, SR. in Santa Maria, California. He was their eighth child.
CAUSE OF DEATH: Myocardial Infarction (heart attack). This happened about four and-a-half months after my mom died due to emphysema and other health issues.
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"Walt" was born in Santa Maria, however, he eventually moved south to Los Alamitos with his family and seven siblings; the youngest, CYRIL, being born in Los Alamitos in June 1910.
NOTE: CYRIL ABLES, the "baby" of the family, was brutally murdered at the age of 29 in the State of Washington. Please, if you will, take a minute to visit his memorial.
"WALT" at some point moved north from the Los Alamitos area to Taft, a small oil town about 110 miles north of Los Angeles. He was employed by Standard Oil Company and, being single, ate out all the time. That's when he met his wife-to-be, LEOLA (my mother). She was a pretty waitress at the "Savoy Hotel & Restaurant." He married LEOLA WALTER ROFINOT on April 10, 1936. She was a widow with one child, Betty, about 5 years old.
Eugene had always been called "WALT" by family and friends alike but, to me, when I was first learning to talk he was simply called "OBAY." As time went along, that nick-name was picked up by family and friends alike; even my school friends. Everyone just went along with my version of dad's name down through the years; even if they didn't understand why they were calling him that silly name. It stuck, and that was that. "OBAY" it was!
Dad was an avid fisherman and hunter. He loved horses and passed on to me the love for horses and all animals. He was always adopting homeless and/or abandoned animals, due in part to the fact that we lived about 14 miles out of town on an Oil lease (called Elk Hills). Standard Oil was contracted to manage the lease for the U.S. Navy Oil Petroleum Reserve.
My folks lived on the lease until their retirement. My mom had emphysema and age-related health issues which wore her down over her last years. She was hospitalized in the local hospital in Taft, for almost a month, passing away in January of 1979. My dad was *lost* without her, and his health began to deteriorate as well. He had a bad heart, and had had for many years but now he seemed to have given up; not being content at his house in Taft, or at mine and husband WILEY'S in Bakersfield.
He was hospitalized in Bakersfield the evening before a procedure planned to put dye into an artery in the groin area; this being to check for blockage in his heart vessels, the way I understand it. They did that, and he died before WILEY and I could get to the hospital. He had just turned 74 in May.
"OBAY" was survived by his loving daughter, BEVERLY (Ables) ADKINS/SIMMONS, of Bakersfield; grandchildren, KENNETH and CARL ADKINS, Bakersfield; and stepdaughter, BETTY ROFINOT MURPHREE, of Colorado.
My father, Eugene, aka "WALT" or "OBAY" to friends and family alike.
***************************************
EUGENE was born to ANNA LAURA [Cheadle] ABLES and EUGENE WALTER ABLES, SR. in Santa Maria, California. He was their eighth child.
CAUSE OF DEATH: Myocardial Infarction (heart attack). This happened about four and-a-half months after my mom died due to emphysema and other health issues.
***************************************
"Walt" was born in Santa Maria, however, he eventually moved south to Los Alamitos with his family and seven siblings; the youngest, CYRIL, being born in Los Alamitos in June 1910.
NOTE: CYRIL ABLES, the "baby" of the family, was brutally murdered at the age of 29 in the State of Washington. Please, if you will, take a minute to visit his memorial.
"WALT" at some point moved north from the Los Alamitos area to Taft, a small oil town about 110 miles north of Los Angeles. He was employed by Standard Oil Company and, being single, ate out all the time. That's when he met his wife-to-be, LEOLA (my mother). She was a pretty waitress at the "Savoy Hotel & Restaurant." He married LEOLA WALTER ROFINOT on April 10, 1936. She was a widow with one child, Betty, about 5 years old.
Eugene had always been called "WALT" by family and friends alike but, to me, when I was first learning to talk he was simply called "OBAY." As time went along, that nick-name was picked up by family and friends alike; even my school friends. Everyone just went along with my version of dad's name down through the years; even if they didn't understand why they were calling him that silly name. It stuck, and that was that. "OBAY" it was!
Dad was an avid fisherman and hunter. He loved horses and passed on to me the love for horses and all animals. He was always adopting homeless and/or abandoned animals, due in part to the fact that we lived about 14 miles out of town on an Oil lease (called Elk Hills). Standard Oil was contracted to manage the lease for the U.S. Navy Oil Petroleum Reserve.
My folks lived on the lease until their retirement. My mom had emphysema and age-related health issues which wore her down over her last years. She was hospitalized in the local hospital in Taft, for almost a month, passing away in January of 1979. My dad was *lost* without her, and his health began to deteriorate as well. He had a bad heart, and had had for many years but now he seemed to have given up; not being content at his house in Taft, or at mine and husband WILEY'S in Bakersfield.
He was hospitalized in Bakersfield the evening before a procedure planned to put dye into an artery in the groin area; this being to check for blockage in his heart vessels, the way I understand it. They did that, and he died before WILEY and I could get to the hospital. He had just turned 74 in May.
"OBAY" was survived by his loving daughter, BEVERLY (Ables) ADKINS/SIMMONS, of Bakersfield; grandchildren, KENNETH and CARL ADKINS, Bakersfield; and stepdaughter, BETTY ROFINOT MURPHREE, of Colorado.
